I hope Wales get stuck in straight away, give England some room at the start and it's not going to be pretty. Could be a repeat of 2014.

Also be interesting to see how Cory Hill does, being as he was a doubt at one point.

If you mention it again you might get a nibble

Yeah - you'd expect, with two canny coaches, for them to have something a little different up their sleeve. You might see England using Simmonds and Teo more, to try and break the line, or act as dummy runners for the loops.

It's very tricky to know how well each side performed last week - how much of it was great play and how much was weak opposition. Clearly the Welsh defence was solid and the Scarlets backs worked well, but Scotland were very flaky- and England looked like they could score every time they attacked but conceded 2 tries (should have been 3).

I think England start as favourites - mostly because they are at home. And, having seen Wales play, they should have some idea what to expect. But, we took a long time to put Italy away - and Wales won't fold, in the last 10/1 mins, like Italy did. Hard to know quite what to expect.

I'm getting very nervous about this one - I can see a lot of pacing around, and hiding behind the sofa, in my future

That's a good point. From a Welsh point of view, I've been thinking that had we done this to Scotland two years ago (or even last year), no one would have batted an eyelid. So the question really is, how good/bad are Scotland?

Ultimately, we won't know until we're a fair way through this game.

I'm the calmest I've felt over a Wales England game in years. Having no expectation of winning is a real weight off the shoulders. If we win, great, and if we lose, oh well work in progress.

I feel like we're heading in the right direction regardless of what happens on Saturday.

Give it a couple of days...............

Oh please don't turn into globus.

I was hiding behind the sofa (originally to watch Dr Who) long before Globus breached the birth canal.

Oh shut up, globus designed the birth canal

ouch, you rotter you

I thought Wales played well on Saturday, but I’m not reading too much into the result.

An intercept try and helpful ref’s decision at the scrum (after some good welsh play, granted) got us 14pts up very quickly. After that I’m afraid I thought that Scotland were just dreadful.

The game against England will be very different, to say the least.

I'm hoping if picked Teo is better for 60 mins against Italy and will be sharper and closer to full match fitness. I felt Italy got joy wide mostly down to this rather than defensive issues for England but Wales do have the outside backs and back row to cause trouble in this channel if something is amiss. I'd prefer Joseph to start tbh he tightened England up immediately although Italy's fitness dropping off could be a factor there as well.

I didn't see the Wales game on Saturday but the score was an eye-catcher although its always difficult to read much into form until the second round of games have been completed anyway. It could turn out to be an amazing result or Scotland could just be this years BBI (Bottom But Italy).

I hope England don't kick away too much good ball which I feel they do too much as a tactical choice and can be frustrating to watch. England simply cannot get away with giving Wales the same amount of possession they gifted Italy.

The England v Wales games are something else in terms of atmosphere and intensity and it is the one fixture I look forward to and dread in equal measure. I have a tiny amount of Welsh ancestry (so more than most of the Welsh team ) and like to see them do well but not at the weekend please. If you can lose to England and then beat Ireland that will be spiffing thanks.

England should start favourites if only down to home advantage but there is not much between the sides IMO and this has been borne out across recent results which have been decided by late scores either way.

I fear you may be disappointed re kicking the ball away. Without BV to make hard yards, against a well formed defence, Eddie's plan will be kick for territory and then smother them with our defence. He won't want England playing higher risk, ball in hand, rugby well inside our own half. Eddie seems quite happy for England to play with less possession than the opposition and let them tire themselves out running at a wall of English defenders. We often make more territory when they have the ball than when we have it.

Came a cropper against Ireland last year though - as we saw against France, Ireland can be very good at maintaining possession for long periods, patiently working their way up field.

Just got tickets to this!

Additionally, the Welsh back row is better at ball snaffling and they have a strong midfield defence, England are going to be even less interested in playing from deep.

From the start, the Welsh defence smothered the Scots. This was the basis for everything else.

Yes I agree with that, the Scots didn’t handle it very well at all. I think England have a bit more up their sleeve and bit more in their armoury though.

If this was in Cardiff, I’d really be fancying our chances, but I think this is one game where home advantage will be key. Actually I think it will be close for an hour, but the final score line showing a comfortable England win.

Agreed. What amazed me with the Scots is Wales kicked deep and in play all day. Then they ran back without much idea of what they were doing but.......kept on doing it with no variation. Plan A didn't work therefore revert to Plan A.

England will put the ball back to us, vary the approach and keep us under pressure throughout the game. I expect for us to be overwhelmed in the last 20mins with England's bench being all important. To have the choice between Teo or JJ is a great place to be.

I have to admit that made me smile while watching the game. Gatland had clearly decided that Wales would just dare the Scots to run it from deep and right into a Welsh brick-wall. Other than a few early teething problems when Jonny Gray was allowed a canter unopposed it worked rather well. England have better tight carriers than Scotland and arguably a bit more pace. If the cleans are accurate we might be able to outflank Wales because we're looking very slick behind the ball but the Welsh backrow looked well up for it. After last weekend I imagine Eddie has a few more ideas up his sleeve with regards to San Simmonds who looks to be a point of difference for us. The key as always with Wales is can they play with confidence and throw it about a bit because when they do things get dicey for the opposition.

I was just looking at the U20 team England have put out and noticed there were quite a few sons of players there - Cameron Redpath, Sam Moore, then went to check if James Grayson was the son of Paul...and bloody hell, after looking at the picture of him there was no doubt...



From the Andy Robinson school of clone-like sons.

One other note - Oghre is a great name for a front row forward.

Where’s henry btw?

I think the weight of told you so's he expects, after his constant criticism of Shingler and Steff Evans, is keeping him at bay.

It didn’t stop him when he did the same regarding a young Liam Williams.

I just like to think he’s died, or something.

So what was your old log in?

The thread takes a, hopefully temporary, turn towards darkness

Let's get C/Storm and Herb back. Also PT

I would love PT to come back.

This really is anyone's game!

It honestly could go either way!

How are the splinters after the fence sitting?

2204

Ah - Ok! Yes remember the log in well.

How come you’re not still 2204?

Some lunatic gave the swarm modding responsibilities.

Last we heard he was laying a pony on a table in a Carmarthen pub.

Zappa and SASP. 2204 is back . Ban him immediately.

The dirty mochyn.

I’m sure I won’t survive past the Ireland Wales spite week, so don’t worry petal

I won't

It's a game of chess apparently

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/42973389