England vs Wales Preview: A Tafflash?

By Chris Chaplin
February 20 2003

After singularly inauspicious opening Six Nations' performances from both combatants in this weekend's match at the Millenium Stadium I wonder if there really will be the much trumpeted backlash from the Welsh and whether England will play to their potential.

I watched both matches at the weekend and it made generally grim viewing. The Welsh pack looked disinterested while the Italians were well and truly "up for it" with neither side seemingly having the stomach for the obdurate defence that all International matches demand nowadays and oh how the Welsh missed the power and ball carrying skills of Scott Quinnell, the guile and sheer brilliance of Rob Howley as well as the reliability of Stephen Jones. The first two having retired from the Machiavellian goings that characterise Welsh rugby these days and the Llanelli star fly half is still injured.

England's management, for some reason best known to itself, chose to play a team that was a mixture of injured and out of position players. There was no lack of commitment from Martin Johnson's side there never is but it was generally a disjointed and slightly shambolic performance.

With the injury to young Saints lock Steve Williams having cleared up coach Hansen has been free to retain his locking partnership with Sidoli who plays again and quite rightly so as in my view as he did at least do his best against all the odds.

However with Llanelli powerhouse Madden still sidelined through injury the much criticised Swansea prop Ben Evans per force retains his place. Mefin Davies is dropped to make way for the return of Bath's veteran hooker Jonathan Humphries who is also reinstated as captain after being ousted from the position back in 1997. Indeed this is his first cap since 1999. I must say that this is a real last throw of the dice for Hansen and given the performance of Bath's pack this term must be seen as a high risk strategy, especially given the loss of Davies‘ potential strong play in the loose.

Charvis is dropped, as he had to be after last Saturday's display of indifference, but surprisingly he is replaced by Bath openside Gavin Thomas, while Llanelli's Dafydd Jones replaces Micheal Owen who was very poor prior to his being moved to replace Steve Williams at lock. I must say that given Jones' performances in the Autumn I was somewhat surprised to see the more pedestrian Owen preferred last time. The back row trio is completed by the pick of the forwards last weekend - Cardiff's Martyn Williams who will be very active around the breakdown and warrant some close attention. Thomas will bring additional scavenging capacity but an international #8? We'll see.

It's hard to judge how good Dwayne Peel is given that he spent most of his last appearance behind a retreating pack. I thought his play was, in spite of that mitigation, overly predictable and I'm not surprised that Bath's Gareth Cooper has been given his chance. Cooper is a sparky and unpredictable character and will give Bracken something to think about.

At 10 Iestyn Harris attempts to try and prove his worth in the 15 a side game have been suspended with Ceri Sweeny getting his first full cap. Whether the Pontypridd youngster will be up to the task is another of the many gambles that Hansen has felt obliged to take

I rather thought that Matthew Watkins would get the nod to start this time as he looked pretty useful when he came on to replace Llanelli's Leigh Davies at the Stadio Flaminio but instead Swansea's Mark Taylor returns to partner the pick of the Welsh backs in Italy, Sarries' Tom Shanklin. This lad is an exciting player and is the major threat by my reckoning with his Premiership pedigree shining through.

On the wings Gareth Thomas from troubled Bridgend can be an elusive runner as we saw when he put Shanklin in for his try and he tackled himself to a standstill, also another dangerous strike player. Rhys Williams is transferred to the other wing in place of the injured Mark Jones. Frankly I don't see Williams as a full back and I hope he makes the most of his chance out wide, he has terrific speed and only Robinson is possessed of enough gas to catch him. Speaking of players who do and don't look like full backs the arrival back on the scene of another Swansea man, Kevin Morgan, shows what a top rate #15 should look like. Obviously while not possessed of Williams pace he is a doughty defender and will take some breaking.

A much changed side from that which faced the Italians, surprisingly so in certain positions with a complete change in the 9, 10 and 12 combination potentially disrupting the backs who looked pretty good when they got some ball against the Italians. Will the Welsh pack be improved by the changes? Well it could hardly be worse.

So what of England?

Well Rowntree starts in the front row due to the enforced absence of Jason Leonard and will also cover tighthead if needed. This change should add some more mobility in the loose and our Graham will certainly be looking to this opportunity to re-establish himself. The England management's final realisation that White is not fit sees the arrival of Saint's Robbie Morris who leapfrogs Worsley, who remains on the bench. Quite how this has happened when earlier in the week Woodward explained Morris' absence from the squad on his failure to impress with England A we are left to ponder. Steve Thompson rightfully retains his place at hooker and all in all this should be an effective and dominant front row .

Johnno's presence is always key England's performance both for his playing abilities and just as importantly as one of the game's greatest captains. I am a little surprised that Ben Kay is starting as, with Grewcock being called on for a cameo appearance against the French, I rather suspected that as BK will be engaged in the Cup semi next week Woodward might have thought it appropriate to give him a rest ahead of a further weekend's rugby, when most will be having a break (including Johnno I suspect). Nothing to do with Kay's fine form against the French more with sensible husbandry,
especially as in Grewcock he has an excellent replacement and I‘m sure the two Lions could have coped with the threat posed by Williams and Sidoli.

Due to Moody's injury Woodward has been "forced" to play one of the World's best and most experienced backrow combinations, although surprisingly they haven't actually started as a unit for a couple of years and I don't see them being bested by the Welsh. Sweeney could have a baptism of fire.

The only change on the grounds of pure form comes at scrum-half where a (presumably) fit again Kyran Bracken has another chance to re-stake his claim for the #9 shirt with Dawson still sidelined by an injury picked up in England training the previous week. I suppose it wouldn't be England training if at least one previously hale and hearty player wasn't cast down.

Wilko of course retains his place, being one of those players who now gets inked, rather than pencilled, on to the team sheet and he must hope against hope that he'll get a pass from Bracken that is in the region where he has to neither leap in the air to catch it or give an impression of a Crown Green bowler while trying to pick it off his toes.

Extraordinarily Hodgeson is once again cursed by being played in a position where he is neither accomplished nor comfortable, let‘s hope Woodward‘s got this right!!!.

Greenwood will also be hoping that he'll get some decent ball this week. The Quin looked on fire last weekend and his frustration at the dreadful service and lost opportunities that he had to endure were clear to see in his post match interview. Fingers crossed then for this still effective player who has one of the sharpest rugby brains around.

Luger and Cohen are again on the wings and while in the case of the latter the merits of so doing are pretty much unarguable, given his high workrate and unselfish play against the French, the case for Luger is less well made and I do hope that Simpson-Daniel gets on for a decent amount of time and not merely just to turn around and walk off again as the referee blows for time. Robinson continues to have his cutting edge blunted back at 15 but if the Welsh defence is as irresolute as it was last weekend in Italy he should still have a lovely time.

The result? Well it's hard to see anything other than an English victory. I can't see the Welsh pack getting enough ball to get their dangerous looking back division away.

Nevertheless in spite of New Zealand referee Steve Walsh having, like his countryman Paul Honiss, the potential to render scrums all but uncontested, I still expect a dominant English pack to prevent the Welsh posting their first victory over the English at Cardiff for ten years with England winning by ten points or more. Although whether the 47 point average that the Welsh have conceded to England in their last three meetings is maintained is another thing.