England pit heart against hwyl

RUGBY UNION

There is nothing remotely friendly about this afternoon's Wales-England international at Cardiff Arms Park, but at the end of a week that brought the battle of Lansdowne Road, it will be good to see a rugby stadium put to its proper sporting use.

Although there is more to the Anglo-Welsh confrontation than rugby, there are no unpleasant hidden agendas. And despite there being an excess of malevolence aimed by the Welsh at the English, this remains sport as a relatively harmless substitute for war, and definitely not an approximation of the real thing.

As it happens, the Arms Park is not the best place in the world at which to illustrate rugby's moral superiority. Stories of white-clad players being rained with spittle as they take the field have been biennial during the latter years, when defeat of England has sometimes seemed the only thing on Welsh rugby's agenda.

But at least it is tolerably safe to attend, and safe too to assume that the Welsh Rugby Union will not have to replace smashed-up seats and bits of grandstand before Wales next play in Cardiff, against Ireland on 18 March. Spare a thought for the Irish union, even now hastening to repair Lansdowne Road for France's visit in a fortnight's time.

The Ireland-England football match, as everyone now knows all too well, was a "friendly" and, as all rugby folk appreciate, there is no friendlier city than Dublin. By contrast, today's rugby match evinces a rugby rivalry as unfriendly - and in some respects as unhealthy - as could be, and by its very nature, febrile and unordered; it has not suited the more logical and less instinctive rugby of the English.

Yet beyond the connected facts that this is Cardiff and England have failed here time and again, no one has yet put up a convincing argument why Wales, having begun their defence of the championship by losing in Paris, should succeed today where Ireland, and more particularly France, so comprehensively failed.

England not only have ball-winners throughout the pack and ball-users throughout the backs, but a fair few of both who can do both. Wales cannot make such a claim, although their half-backs will ensure that Mike Catt's defences at full-back are tested for the first time, and the past vulnerabilities of the Underwoods will also influence Welsh attacking strategy.

Will Carling and Jack Rowell, England's captain and coach respectively, have been saying complimentary things about Wales, with Carling helpfully providing a long list of Welsh qualities. But if Ieuan Evans were asked to do the same about England, he would have had to say a lot more and the list would have been a lot longer.

Besides, England had enough to keep their minds fully occupied after the French match, notably working on their line-out and the under-involvement of their wide attackers. It is a frightening thought for prospective opponents that this English team still has improvements to make.

None of which takes account of England's deplorable record at a ground which daunted successive teams so much that they did not win there between 1963 and 1991. Or if it did not daunt them, it did something diametrically opposite to Wales.

"As a Welshman, you are in another state of being," Arthur Emyr, the former Wales wing and lately the new head of BBC Wales Sport, told a Welsh newspaper the other day. This is sometimes called hwyl, although a word the dictionary translates simply as "mood" scarcely does justice to this blend of patriotic fervour and anti-English sheer bloody-mindedness.

"As soon as they come out of the womb, Welsh people hate the English," John Scott, a former England and Cardiff captain who has lived in South Wales for 16 years, said - although in admiration rather than complaint. Even allowing for hyperbole, this is an extraordinarily powerful motivation.

Another former England captain, Steve Smith, said: "Put a Welshman in a red shirt when England are in Cardiff, and he assumes the strength of one and a half men. You have to put it down to 15 guys playing for the whole nation against the arch-enemy." Especially, one assumes, when they are wearing the red shirts supplied to the WRU by Smith's company.

Rowell himself appears to agree: "The Five Nations is about rugby plus history, and part of the history is the psychology that teams want to beat England. Given England's start to the Five Nations, the Welsh hwyl will be full-octaned. England don't have hwyl, but all the best English teams play with heart, and English heart has to be up to conquering hwyl."

This ought to be less difficult than is habitually the case. "I don't have any doubt that if we play to our full potential we can beat Wales, but what I'm saying is that only the best will do," Brian Moore, the England hooker, said.

In the real world you would back heart over hwyl every time, but at Cardiff Arms Park, reality does not always intrude.

Five Nations focus, page 43

CARDIFF ARMS PARK TEAMS

WALES v ENGLAND

A Clement Swansea 15 M Catt Bath

I Evans Llanelli, capt 14 T Underwood Leicester

M Taylor Pontypool 13 W Carling Harlequins, capt

N Davies Llanelli 12 J Guscott Bath

N Walker Cardiff 11 R Underwood Leicester

N Jenkins Pontypridd 10 R Andrew Wasps

R Jones Swansea 9 K Bracken Bristol

M Griffiths Cardiff 1 J Leonard Harlequins

G Jenkins Swansea 2 B Moore Harlequins

J Davies Neath 3 V Ubogu Bath

G O Llewellyn Neath 4 M Johnson Leicester

D Jones Cardiff 5 M Bayfield Northampton

H Taylor Cardiff 6 T Rodber Northampton

E Lewis Cardiff 8 D Richards Leicester

R Collins Pontypridd 7 B Clarke Bath

Referee: D Men (France) Kick-off: 2.30 (BBC1)