Date: Saturday, February 10th
Venue: Twickenham Stadium
Kick-off: 4:45pm

England
Eddie Jones’ men will be heading into this match on the back of a convincing win away over Italy, scoring some cracking tries along the way. In their sights at Twickenham stands a resurgent Wales side that shocked us all in the manner of their win over Scotland. England will be keen to prove that the Scots made the Welsh look good – one try somewhat opportunist, another a great try but should have been chalked off for a forward pass and two other tries that were gifted to Leigh Halfpenny because of Scotland’s suspect defence.

Eddie Jones has made two changes, with Danny Care starting at scrumhalf for Ben Youngs, who looks to be out for 12-16 weeks after that nasty-looking knee injury sustained early against the Italians. It will be Care’s 78th cap overtaking Matt Dawson as the most capped England scrum-half ever 10 years or so after his debut against the All Blacks, with Richard Wigglesworth recalled to the bench. George Ford and Owen Farrell have been retained, whilst Jonathan Joseph is promoted from the bench and Ben Te’o takes his place as an impact finisher. The same back 3 of Jonny May, Anthony Watson and Mike Brown has been kept with Jack Nowell the final finisher on the bench at No 23. The pack is unchanged.

England will have to work incredibly hard at the breakdown to prevent specialist Josh Navidi from being a nuisance in order to sustain attacking momentum and pressure. I’m not sure why Jones has kept Robshaw at openside when publicly expressing in the past that Robshaw isn’t a specialist 7 and if England aren’t careful Wales could have a field day at the breakdown. Vunipola, the Ice Pack second row and Simmonds will have to carry a lot, break the gainline and clear out the Welsh foragers in order for the wingers to enjoy quick ball out-wide.

Wales
Wales came out of the blocks quickly last week in front of a thundering Principally Stadium. But like I have said above, I think it was more of a case of Scotland being bad rather than Wales being good. On Tuesday, Gatland named an unchanged XV and his only change on the bench is the return of George North in the place of Owen Watkin. I think this is a good decision from the head coach as it shows continuity, and there were no injuries sustained in the game last Saturday – although there is a possibility of a late change in the second row if Cory Hill doesn’t pass his HIA.

Wales, through one of their players of the autumn Josh Navidi, will look to attack England at the breakdown which has been slightly suspect at times under Jones. They are missing key players but if they perform well, that will prove the strength-in-depth of the rugby-mad nation despite the injuries and players unavailable abroad. Warren Gatland did win a Grand Slam 10 years ago with an Ospreys-majority side so the same can be repeated again with the Scarlets, although I think it’s unlikely.

It will be about continuing momentum from last week’s game, disrupting England at the breakdown, maintaining resolution in defence, putting up a good fight in the scrum and Wales have the kicking dependability of a revitalised Leigh Halfpenny and the arsenal to really hurt England.

All eyes on
After both teams performed really well last weekend, my eyes will be on Rhys Patchell for the Welsh. He is a great distributor and threatened the Scottish line ball in hand and will look to do the same against the English. His versatility as a fullback too further emphasises his talent and he’s definitely one to watch, but I will continue to express my annoyance that Owen Williams can’t be selected because he plays at a Club only a few miles from the Welsh border.

For the Roses, my eye will be on Anthony Watson, who should be England’s 1st choice fullback post-World Cup and his scintillating finishing flair earned him two tries and a man-of-the-match award last Sunday in Rome. If the English forwards do their job, Ford and Farrell can unleash this Bath flyer to a devastating effect.

Head to head
Of course the battle of the two nines could be interesting of Danny Care and Gareth Davies, usually second fiddle but given the chance now that injuries have taken hold. Simmonds vs Moriarty will be the head-to-head that determines the amount of quality ball either side will get.

There’s also the battle of the old-heads between England captain Hartley and Scarlets stalwart Ken Owens who will bring plenty of experience to this potentially pulsating affair. And finally, Joe Launchbury will look to nullify Alun Wyn Jones and remind him and Warren Gatland that he should have gone on the Lions tour in Summer.

Prediction:
I’m leaving this to Hutch again, so please check in later for all the Six Nations predictions. It’s too close to call, so I’m heading to ikibu online casino.

By Jacob Bassford