Uini Atonio: France's 23st, Shakespeare-quoting prop

Atonio (right) has won 43 caps since making his France debut in 2014

Unfancied English raiders taking on a mighty French force on foreign soil.

"Cry 'God for Eddie, England, and Saint George!'" perhaps. Or maybe not.

If anything, the parallel is more likely to be on the mind of a man in the home dressing room.

Uini Atonio's upbringing was South Auckland rather than South Bank.

His Samoan mother and father worked hard and long, as a maid and welder, to provide for him and his two siblings.

Growing up, Uini and his older brother Vau had two passions. The first, unsurprisingly given their heft and attendance of the city's famous Wesley College - which has Jonah Lomu among its alumni - was rugby.

The second was acting.

Atonio played everything from godfathers to genies - but his passion was Shakespeare.

He and Vau were part of the Black Friars - a theatre group named after the London home of Shakespeare's company and dedicated to challenging stereotypes around Pasifika people in New Zealand.

Uini performed in Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, but he could quote lines from across the canon.

One he had by heart was from Measure for Measure:

"Our doubts are traitors," it goes. "And make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."

As Atonio's rugby career took off and then stalled, he had plenty of chance to reflect on it.

Provincial side Counties Manukau saw the teenager's size - 6ft 4in tall, more than 26st - as a weakness rather than strength. They feared he was too slow across the ground, too quick to tire late on. He was left out and told to slim down.

When, aged 21, the chance to move to France came, Atonio shrugged off the selectors' scepticism and any of his own doubts to chance his arm in another hemisphere.

His new club - La Rochelle - were in the French second tier at the time.

A decade on, La Rochelle are European powerhouses and Atonio, having qualified on residency grounds, is a cornerstone of a France side on the brink of a first Grand Slam since 2010.

On Saturday, England's Ellis Genge will attempt to steal the scene.

On the orders of club coach and former Ireland and Lions fly-half Ronan O'Gara, Atonio, 31, has lost some of his bulk.

But Genge, 6ft 1in and 18st 5lb, will still be giving away three inches in height and more than four stone in weight when he packs down against Atonio.

Callum Black knows the challenge. He played opposite Atonio in both Ulster's Champions Cup pool games against La Rochelle back in the 2017-18 season.

Atonio and Black (left) prepare to collide in Ulster and La Rochelle's Champions Cup campaign of 2017-18. Each team won their home pool-stage match

"There were a couple of team-mates and ex-team-mates - John Afoa and Jared Payne, who knew him from New Zealand - but just looking at the stats and size of the man I knew it was going to be tough," he told BBC Sport.

"Their whole pack was bigger than ours, so we knew we had to be technically very good and take it to them.

"You can't just sit and wait and see what happens, you have to take the initiative, otherwise weight and sheer force can take over and there isn't much you can do about it."

Genge and his fellow England forwards were certainly canny against Ireland, wrestling their way to six scrum penalties via a combination of honest grunt and questionable angles.

This weekend, Black says the height of the scrummage, rather than the direction of shove, could be key for Genge in his battle with Atonio.

"If you kick your hips out and go an angle across him, the weight Atonio brings will go through you," he added.

"You have to stay tight as a front three. For me, as a loose-head, I made sure I had a really strong connection with my hooker.

"I tried instead to get under Atonio and scrum at a height he would find uncomfortable. If you come up to his height, it becomes a wrestle and you don't want to be there.

"The other thing, which is a common tactic against a player the size of Atonio, is to take away their threat through other parts of the game. By keeping the ball moving and the tempo high in the loose, the scrum becomes a chance for him to recover rather than cause damage."

A super-sized drama awaits in the Stade de France and none of its players comes bigger than Atonio.

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