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‘Wales are the underdogs’

WARRENGATLAND78
It’s a reflection of where the strength lies in Welsh club rugby that 13 players from Ospreys have been selected to face England on Saturday – I can’t remember an occasion when one team has had such a representation.

It’s a reflection of where the strength lies in Welsh club rugby that 13 players from Ospreys have been selected to face England on Saturday – I can’t remember an occasion when one team has had such a representation.

They will obviously be comfortable playing alongside each other as it’s basically the Ospreys team.

The only real selection surprise for me is that Tom Shanklin is not in the starting XV, with Sonny Parker preferred at outside-centre. The loss of Dwayne Peel with an ankle injury is a big blow.

It will be intriguing to see what kind of a game-plan they employ. Wales have a dreadful record at Twickenham over the last 20 years. It’s all about the World Cup finalists. All the pressure and expectation is on England.

It’s no surprise that the message from the Welsh camp is that they are underdogs, because that keeps the pressure on England.

There’s an opportunity for them to go out there and say ‘okay, the pressure’s not on us… let’s see what England have to offer’. The key thing, though, is for Wales to have clarity about how they go about their objectives. It will be very interesting to see what the internal message is to the team – I’d love to be a fly on the dressing-room wall to hear what philosophy they will adopt.

There are question marks over exactly what England will do. With the likes of James Haskell and Luke Narraway they have a very fast back row on the back of a big hefty pack. It will be fascinating to see how that integrates with the visionary approach of Brian Ashton.

My eyes are drawn towards the England bench as, while it looks a well-balanced team in terms of experience and youth, there’s also some mercurial talent among the replacements with the likes of Lesley Vainikolo and Danny Cipriani. You look at what England have on the bench – they have the ability to change the way the game is going… I’m not sure Wales have really got that option.

It will be really interesting to see what Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley can do with this Welsh side, but a lot of the gains from having such a coaching team will come in the medium term. England, with home advantage, will probably have too much on Saturday.