SIX Hartley ready to Scarlets storm
HOLD-UP: Jones talks to referee as Russell waits ENGLAND versus Wales would not be England versus Wales without feedback from the speakers, but turn down the background noise and today’s Six Nations game at Twickenham is one England should win with something to spare.
They have beaten Wales five times in their last six meetings, are playing at a ground where they have not lost in the championship for six years, and are up against an opposition deprived of a quartet of key Test Lions.
Yet there were sufficient defensive failings exposed by lowly Italy last Sunday for Wales’ Scarlet storm troopers to fancy their chances of successfully pulling off ‘Operation Silence Eddie’.
Jones’ pre-match attack on Rhys Patchell was a blunt instrument intended to undermine the confidence of the stand-in stand-off and England back-row Courtney Lawes weighed in for good measure yesterday. “He’s a good player, he’s quick and he REPORTS has got some skills, but as a team we will put him under pressure and make it very difficult for him. We’re going to get off the line and hunt Wales as a team,” said Lawes, right.
But the Patchell plan – and the recall for Bath’s Jonathan Joseph at outside-centre – inadvertently drew attention to the potential damage Wales’ dangerous backline can inflict at Twickenham.
England’s success under Jones has been built on defensive security – they have conceded only 14 tries in 11 Six Nations games during his tenure – but Italy managed to get outside England’s rearguard in Rome with surprising ease, scoring two tries and having another chalked off for a forward pass.
If an Italian ensemble can cause England discomfort then a Wales side recalibrated to play fast and wide should certainly be able to do so judging by the way they swept aside Scotland in round one.
Maybe that is what has been eating Eddie this week. Could it be that England’s outwardly sanguine coach is harbouring doubts under that bullish exterior?
Wales are a majority Scarlets entity and the exhilarating way the Pro14 champions sent Bath out of the Champions Cup last month will act as a template for how they about business today.
The one proviso is a wet forecast, which may mitigate against an expansive approach. Wales’ response should be to shrug their shoulders and go for it anyway. They will not beat England in a forward
face-off; go they may as well attempt to tear up Twickenham. “The way we prepare, we are prepared for anything,” said England captain Dylan Hartley. “We train bloody hard, we prepare well, and we trust each other to execute on the weekend. That’s where I get my confidence from.” That, and England’s record of 23 wins in 24 Tests under Jones. They are further down the road than a Wales side still reinventing itself from the bump and bash era. But Warren Gatland cut a visibly relaxed figure in Wales this week – a very different man from the stressed figure in charge of the Lions in their drawn series with New Zealand last summer. England-Wales is never a free shot for either side but there feels more to lose for Jones’ side at Twickenham today. In between firing off volleys at Wales, Jones made a big play of praising the