England Must Improve to Beat Wales
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Wales still the team to beat despite injury doubts.
Wales have picked both Shane Williams and Andy Powell despite injury concerns for this weekend’s Six Nations Rugby clash between Wales and England.
Both players picked up knocks last weekend when Wales triumphed over Scotland. Shane Williams sprained his ankle, while Andy Powell strained his calf in training this week.
Despite the doubts hanging over both stars, coach Warren Gartland is hopeful the pair will start on Saturday. Reports from the Welsh camp are that Williams has a 50-50 chance of playing where as Powell has a 90 per cent chance of being fit for the match.
Wales will still be without Gavin Henson when they face England on home turf at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. England will well and truly be entering the Dragon’s Den, and need to put on a much more solid display than they did last weekend at Twickenham.
Even if all three of the Welsh injury concerns are unable to play, the Welsh pack is still incredibly strong and formidable opposition for anyone to overcome. If England resolve to play sloppy rugby as they did last Saturday then they could be in for a rout.
Two key areas which Martin Johnson needs to tighten in England’s preparation for the game are holding onto possession and using the width of the pitch. Too often against the Italians, England were content to boot the ball fruitlessly to the opposition or would make forward drives straight down the centre, neglecting the talents of the wide players.
In the other matches over the weekend Ireland take a trip to Italy while Scotland will meet France at the Stade de France. Bolstered by the hard fought victory against France last week, Ireland should have few problems with Italy, whose side has been decimated with injuries.
Despite their loss, France should be happy with their display against Ireland which showed some beautiful flowing moves and displays of skill. Scotland only seemed to wake up in their opening match against Wales in the last 25 minutes, and will have to be raring from the start if they have any chance of besting the French.
The ones to watch however are Wales. As defending champions, they are the team to beat and still look the strongest contenders to win the title this year. England have a tough test ahead and will need to be exceptional on Saturday in order to overcome the Welsh this year.
