England vs Wales RWC preview

With all due respect to Fiji and Uruguay, who both proved over the weekend to be difficult and combative opponents worthy of the admiration of the Tier 1 nations, for England and Wales the real challenge of the World Cup’s Pool A begins Saturday night at Twickenham.

Although both England and Wales have begun their World Cup campaigns with seemingly resounding bonus-point wins, the reality is that neither side will have been entirely satisfied with their results in the opening round of World Cup fixtures

With Mike Brown one of few exceptions, England looked nervous, disorganised and uncertain for 60 minutes of the World Cup’s opening game before head coach Stuart Lancaster’s inspired substitutions allowed England to subdue a resolute and dangerous Fijian side 35-11, albeit only securing a try bonus point with the last play of the game.

Wales meanwhile struggled in the early goings of their opening tie with Uruguay – who, remember, do not have a single professional rugby player in their national side – failing to match Los Teros’ intensity in the game’s first quarter and even going behind 6-0 early before  the game shifted to its expected conclusion with the Uruguayans tiring and Wales able to ruthlessly put away chance after chance to run out 54-9 winners.

Both sides will undoubtedly have to show significant improvement from last week if either hope to leave South-West London on Saturday night with a victory and pole position at the top of this year’s so-called ‘Pool of Death’.

However with Wales’ injury crisis continuing to worsen with Liam Williams, Paul James, Samson Lee and Sunday’s hat-trick hero Corey Allen all being forced off with injuries – with Allen potential out of the rest of the World Cup with a “significant” hamstring injury – Wales come into this game significantly wounded and understrength.

Compare Welsh fortunes with that of England for whom improvement could come naturally with the dropping of a number of players who failed to impress on Friday night – Ben Morgan and Brad Barritt the guiltiest of offenders – and factor in England’s impressive record at Twickenham and one feels the odds have already swung marginally in England’s favour.

Nevertheless with Wales’ having had the luxury of resting a number of key and influential players from duty over the weekend including Taulupe Faletau and Jamie Roberts, the Welsh certainly have the capacity to lay down a substantial marker should England continue to struggle to regain the form that saw them only points difference away from winning this year’s Six Nations.

And although both have clashes with this year’s Rugby Championship winners Australia laying just beyond the horizon, victory on Saturday evening would provide not only the customary Home Nations bragging rights but also a golden opportunity for either country to guarantee safe exit out of arguably the toughest World Cup pool ever.