England’s power game to be too much for Wales

Colin Newboult
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England's Maro Itoje and Wales's Dan Biggar battle for the ball during the International Friendly at The Principality Stadium, Cardiff.

England will look to boost their Six Nations title hopes this weekend when they take on arch-rivals Wales at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

It is an odd situation for both teams but particularly the hosts, who may not know their Six Nations destiny until later in the year.

What happens on the field has rather taken a back seat over the past couple of weeks due to the measures taken following the coronavirus outbreak. Sport across Europe has been affected but especially in Italy, whose matches against Ireland and England have been postponed.

As a result, a tournament winner may not be found until the latter part of 2020. A France Grand Slam will render those encounters insignificant but, should Les Bleus succumb to either the Scots or the Irish, then it may just open the door for others.

Eddie Jones’ men are very much part of the equation, providing the French falter over the next two weeks, and a victory over Wales will certainly put pressure on Fabien Galthie’s charges.

All is not necessarily lost for Wayne Pivac’s side either, but they would need a remarkable set of results to go in their favour for them to retain the title they won in 2019. It is therefore about pride for the visitors, who are still searching for a successful formula under their new head coach.

Pivac wants this Welsh outfit to play an expansive game, and indeed they have been potent at times this year, but there is currently a lack of composure and resilience about the squad.

Under previous boss Warren Gatland, they were brutal, physical and almost always difficult to play against. You could not say that so far with Pivac at the helm, who have conceded some soft tries in 2020.

They will certainly need to improve against an English side that will no doubt be powerful up front. Jones’ outfit dominated Ireland in their previous clash, with the likes of Maro Itoje, Kyle Sinckler, Sam Underhill and Courtney Lawes producing excellent performances.

Underhill is out of Saturday’s match due to injury but his replacement, Sale Sharks’ on-loan back-rower Mark Wilson, has been a consistent high performer since coming into the set-up.

Against a Wales pack which has struggled in a few facets of play, the hosts will fancy their chances of gaining a significant upper hand at Twickenham. The visitors may well be boosted by the return of Josh Navidi and, in the backline, wing Liam Williams, but it will be a long evening if their front five struggles.

If they can get parity then there is plenty of pace and intelligence in the backline to open England up, despite the home team’s impressive rush defence.

Players to watch:

For England: Having not featured for the Red Rose since the Rugby World Cup, it is a boost for Eddie Jones to see Anthony Watson and Mark Wilson return from injury. Speedster Watson will add plenty of pace and footwork to an already dangerous back three, while Wilson’s task will be to bring his all-court game to the back-row. Interestingly, Jones has opted to start the 30-year-old at openside, with youngster Tom Curry continuing at number eight, but no doubt plenty of the ball-carrying responsibility will fall on the Newcastle man. He was effective at the back of the scrum during England’s November campaign in 2018 and the Red Rose will look for him to be similarly effective in all facets of the game on Saturday.

For Wales: It is the same story for the Welsh, who welcome back a workhorse up front and an influential back three player in the shape of Josh Navidi and Liam Williams respectively. Despite playing some good rugby at times in the 2020 Six Nations, there has been a fallibility to this Pivac-led side and Navidi will provide more of a stubborn presence to their pack. Meanwhile, Williams is an excellent replacement for the injured Josh Adams. Although he perhaps doesn’t have the try-scoring instinct of Adams, the Scarlets flyer is excellent under the high ball and comes back at the perfect moment. Ireland failed to deal with England’s kicking game and the 28-year-old will help defuse that aerial bombardment.

Head-to-head: The battle between the respective front fives are always crucial but this area may well decide the game, particularly if England get on top early on. The Red Rose were dominant against a talented Ireland pack and there are areas in the opposition set-piece they can exploit on Saturday if the Welsh haven’t improved. Pivac’s men have faltered at times in the scrum while the lineout will be targeted by George Kruis and co. Without blindside Aaron Wainwright, they also have one fewer out-and-out jumper in the pack, which means there is big pressure on Jake Ball and captain Alun Wyn Jones. Wales’ pack has often risen to the occasion against England and they will need to do the same at Twickenham this weekend.

Previous results:

2019: Wales won 13-6 in Cardiff (World Cup warm-up)
2019: England won 33-19 in London (World Cup warm-up)
2019: Wales won 21-13 in Cardiff
2018: England won 12-6 in London
2017: England won 21-16 in Cardiff
2016: England won 27-13 in London
2016: England won 25-21 in London
2015: Wales won 28-25 in London (World Cup)
2015: England won 21-16 in Cardiff
2014: England won 29-18 in London

Click here for both teams’ recent form and much more.

Prediction: Wales have a couple of key players back but you suspect that the hosts will be too powerful up front. England by 10.

The teams:

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Tom Curry, 7 Mark Wilson, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Charlie Ewels, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Willi Heinz, 23 Henry Slade

Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Josh Navidi, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Jake Ball, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Rhys Carre,18 Leon Brown, 19 Aaron Shingler, 20 Taulupe Faletau, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Johnny McNicholl

Date: Saturday, March 7
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 16:45 GMT
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

 

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