King's opportunity to win World Cup place

When you have won 13 Tests on the bounce and are selecting your World Cup squad from a position of unprecedented strength, it is easy to say, as Clive Woodward did yesterday, that there is "a hell of a lot at stake" for any player donning the white shirt of England. Steve Hansen, on the other hand, knows there is a hell of a lot at stake for Steve Hansen, not least because Welsh fortunes are close to an all-time low - Six Nations wooden spoonists and laughing stocks of Europe, just for starters.

As Hansen discussed the prospects for this afternoon's Wales-England contest at the Millennium Stadium - a cap international, even though it is an out-of-season World Cup shakedown match between the Welsh Test team and England's second-string - he looked like a man in search of an immediate flight home to New Zealand, where they really know how to play this game. He spontaneously combusted when asked whether, under these precise circumstances, his team's performance would outweigh the result - "The answer is no, because we're not good enough to win any match unless we perform," he snapped - before heading for the door as fast as his ex-policeman's legs would carry him.

Woodward, his opposite number, was the very soul of serenity by comparison. As he has fielded under-strength teams before and surfaced smelling of roses - a side containing five new caps prevailed over Argentina in Buenos Aires 14 months ago - he was thinking only of a fifth consecutive victory in Cardiff. "I'm interested in individual performances, because I need to know who can do the job under pressure, but first and foremost we want to win the Test," he said. "The moment you don't have victory in the forefront of your mind, you'll find yourselves getting smacked. I actually think this is a very good England side. If you look at our locks, Simon Shaw and Danny Grewcock, you'd probably agree that they would be first-choice players in virtually any other team in the world."

Word has it that few, if any, of the Welsh starting line-up will turn out against Scotland next weekend - Hansen wants his men in camp, training their socks off and turning every last waking thought to the critical match with Canada in Melbourne on 12 October. Woodward, on the other hand, will probably retain the best of his contenders for the game with France in Marseille next weekend. At least three of this afternoon's replacements - Austin Healey, Ollie Smith and Steve Borthwick - are likely to be promoted so the coach can make direct comparisons between them and their direct rivals for a place among the World Cup chosen ones.

Wales will certainly aim to prosper at the line-out - the second-row pairing of Robert Sidoli and Chris Wyatt is an obvious Red Dragon threat - and are backing their route-one centres, Sonny Parker and Mark Taylor, to put the fear of God into England's inexperienced midfield. But the visiting tight forwards have been around the block a few times - Grewcock, Jason Leonard and Mark Regan are all Test Lions - and if they manage to put Alex King on the front foot, the Wasps outside-half could run the show to the benefit of both England and himself.

King was the form playmaker in Britain during the second half of last season, and he is one match-winning performance away from a tour of World Cup duty that seemed entirely beyond him this time last year. He will be very nearly as nervous as Hansen come the kick-off.