Very few are giving Wales any hope at the Allianz Stadium, with it being a case of keeping it respectable
Wales and England lock horns at Allianz Stadium on Saturday as the two sides get their respective Six Nations campaigns under way.
For the visitors it is a daunting way to kick off a tournament in which they haven’t won a game for two years. The thought of a third consecutive Wooden Spoon doesn’t bear thinking about.
Steve Borthwick’s men, however, are flying and come into the competition with real hopes of being crowned champions come the end of spring.
Here is what our expects think will happen in south west London on Saturday evening.
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Steffan Thomas: England will have far too much firepower for Wales to handle
You’d be hard pressed to find any rugby journalist or fan who thinks Wales will beat England at the Allianz Stadium Twickenham on Saturday.
The form book certainly points to a handsome England victory with Steve Borthwick’s side having won their past 11 internationals, while Wales have lost 21 out of their last 23.
Yet, there was a confident and defiant mood among the players this week with Steve Tandy urging his side to get excited at the prospect of facing England rather than being intimidated.
For Wales to have any chance of keeping the scoreline respectable, let alone winning the game, they cannot allow themselves to get bullied by what is an extremely physical England pack.
The set-piece must also hold its own and they have to be better in the air than they were in the autumn.
A back-three of Ellis Mee, Louis Rees-Zammit and Josh Adams should improve things under the high ball.
There is also a huge onus on openside flanker Josh Macleod to win turnovers and also slow down the speed of England’s attacking ruck ball.
I expect Wales to be a little more pragmatic than they were in the autumn and to put the ball into the air more often than they did in November.
Wales’ defence will have to improve significantly, while they must also be clinical with ball in hand.
Tandy’s side might be competitive for the first 60 minutes but the England bench is frightening.
Expect the likes of Maro Itoje, Tom Curry, Henry Pollock and Marcus Smith to cause damage in the final quarter to put Wales to the sword.
England 41-19 Wales
Ben James: Wales won’t win, but they will hopefully make England’s life difficult
Wales are 27/1 to win at Twickenham on Saturday in some places. In a two-horse race, those are very, very long odds.
The message is clear. Wales aren’t winning in London this weekend.
Over the course of 80 minutes, Steve Borthwick’s side simply have too much power for Wales to live with. The fear will be England get 22 entries at will and the scoreline quickly gets away from Wales.
Instead, you hope Steve Tandy’s side can stay in the fight for large parts and make life difficult for England.
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Be pragmatic, vary your kicking to move England’s back-field around and see what you can do from the scraps in the aerial game.
Don’t overplay around halfway with England’s jackal threats, but look to use the playmaking abilities of your nine-10-12 axis in the right areas.
Above all, do whatever you can to stop England having prolonged attacking sets.
Do all that and Wales will come out of Saturday’s match with credit. If the odd chance goes their way, they might even hurt England a few times.
It’s a long journey for Wales to get back to competing in these types of games, but you just hope they can show enough on Saturday to suggest they’ll get there at some point.
England 39-12 Wales
John Jones: An England win is inevitable, but Wales can avoid repeat of last year’s humiliation
Rarely has an England v Wales week been so quiet. The absence of any niggle, any jibes – tongue-in-cheek or otherwise – only serves to prove what we already know heading into this weekend – Wales aren’t winning this one.
If sport teaches us anything, it’s that there is always a chance. But you only need to look at the two teams’ respective form books, line-ups, squad depths, off-field matters and their odds with the bookmakers to know that the overwhelming feeling is that, in this case, that may as well not be true.
An England win is inevitable. Coming into this Six Nations on an 11-match winning streak, they simply have too much power and pace for Wales to defend against, let alone for them to get on top of the game themselves.
But really, this game is not about winning for Wales. After last year’s 68-14 humiliation in Cardiff – a result which marked yet another new nadir for Welsh rugby – Steve Tandy’s side simply need to stay in the fight to emerge from Twickenham with some credit.
If they head into this opening weekend not allowing themselves to be bullied, Wales can do just that and it will be interesting to see how England respond if they are frustrated in the opening stages.
A pragmatic style of play can keep Wales in the game and prevent Steve Borthwick’s side from running away with it, and I don’t think we will see a repeat of last year’s horror show.
For the embarrassment of riches that Borthwick boasts within his squad, Tandy also has players who can hurt the hosts and it will be interesting to see how Louis Rees-Zammit fares at full-back, particularly with the improvement that is needed from Wales in the air.
The bad news is we won’t see a Wales win. The better news is that, if Wales can be pragmatic, we won’t witness the horror show we saw last year. It will be a good while before we see a Welsh side competitive in this fixture again, so a less humiliating defeat would be a small victory they would have to take.
England 37-16 Wales