Fans may well be relishing the prospect of Scott Baldwin and Dylan Hartley facing each other at Twickenham in 12 days’ time and the Wales hooker admits that he too is raring to go for the match-up.
England and Wales will square off in a clash that will go a long way to deciding who ends up as winners of the 2016 RBS 6 Nations, with the sides currently sitting first and second respectively in the table.
Baldwin has started all three games at the heart of the Wales front-row in this year’s Championship while Hartley has skippered the Red Rose to a trio of successive triumphs to kick off the Eddie Jones era.
The 29-year-old England hooker has vindicated Jones’ appointment of him as captain with a series of disciplined, mature performances. And Baldwin is anticipating a memorable meeting at Rugby HQ with a man he has huge respect for.
“If selected, it will be nice to get out there and have a little tussle. He has shown his maturity since taking over as England captain,” said Baldwin.
“There have been a few things said about him, but he hasn’t bitten, whereas in the past maybe he would have done.
“In the last game he played before Ireland, people were trying to make something out of nothing, with him hitting rucks and stuff.
“He’s just an aggressive player who wants to do well for his country, and he has led from the front for England, so it will be an interesting battle.
“His core skills for a hooker are on the money. He is good in the scrums and in the line-outs, he gets around the park, he carries and he makes his tackles. He’s an all-round player who does his job.”
Wales kept their RBS 6 Nations hopes on track last Friday night as they overcame France 19-10 at Principality Stadium – Les Bleus’ first loss of the Guy Noves era.
England at Twickenham will undoubtedly be another stern test for Warren Gatland’s troops but one they proved they are more than capable of handling with a 28-25 victory during last autumn’s World Cup.
And while Baldwin knows his side can’t take anything for granted, he believes that loss – which contributed to England’s pool stage exit – could well have an effect on proceedings.
“It’s going to be sitting in the back of their minds, because a lot the players are the same ones who were involved then,” added the 27-year-old.
“But Eddie Jones has probably given them confidence. They are building as a team, but we feel we are building as well, so it will be an exciting match and one we will look forward to.
“We know the task in hand. England are a great team at home, and we were stung a couple of years ago up there.
“But we are not going to rest on the World Cup game, because we were probably lucky to get away from that (with a win). We weren’t on the money for the first 20 or 30 minutes, but we are looking forward to going back there.”
Click here for the complete 2016 RBS 6 Nations fixture list with TV coverage
