The brand new Engage Super League campaign is almost here and this season’s first round of matches will kick-off in a spectacular new way.

Sam Ricketts is confident Wales can match England next month despite a poor start to the Gary Speed era. Speed's first match as Wales manager ended in a limp 3-0 defeat as his side capitulated in the second half of their Carling Nations Cup opener against the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday night.

Martin Johnson, the England manager, must be sorely tempted to leave well alone ahead of his side's Six Nations meeting with Italy at Twickenham this weekend: for one thing, the current lot ended seven years of hurt by finally winning a game on Celtic soil last Friday night; for another, the proximity of the World Cup in New Zealand demands continuity of selection. There again, Hendre Fourie is fit – and as Johnson openly acknowledges, a fit Fourie is difficult to ignore.

Crusaders have signed a local reinforcement to help compensate for the three players they will be without in Cardiff at the weekend.

A fortnight is a long time in rugby. Two weeks ago, all the Six Nations talk in Wales was about an Englishman, albeit one born in New Zealand: the hooker Dylan Hartley, who ended up supping in the "last laugh saloon" after helping the former world champions to a highly satisfying victory in Cardiff. Yesterday the Welsh had no option but to talk about their own kind. "We can't hide from the fact that we've lost an awful lot of games," admitted the assistant coach Neil Jenkins, "and we're not hiding from it."

Yes, maybe it was a little early to talk too freely about an emerging England team of strength and a certain old, tough gravitas but let us put it this way: coach Martin Johnson came into Cardiff playing the quiet man oozing confidence and it wasn't so long before we had reason to understand why.

It says much about Shane Williams and the widespread wonder this Welsh wizard has conjured that it will not just be the home fans feeling emotional tonight when they realise this is the little man's last Six Nations game against England. Many in white shirts will also be bidding a farewell which will be fond for other reasons than the thought of those dancing feet terrorising their defences.

Just when Warren Gatland, Wales's winder-up-in-chief, managed to last an entire press conference without antagonising the English, so piped up Andy Powell. The No 8 yesterday labelled Tom Wood as "quite lucky" and warned the debutant of the reality shock awaiting him in Cardiff tomorrow night.

The one topic of discussion at the England team base yesterday that had nothing to do with the remodelled red-rose line-out or Dylan Hartley's status as Number One Leper ahead of tomorrow night's Six Nations opener with Wales was the captaincy, awarded to the Gloucester centre Mike Tindall ahead of the Harlequins No 8 Nick Easter. Both men know what it is to play in a World Cup final; both are big personalities in the dressing room as well as on the pitch. In the end, though, it was not a tight call.

The Six Nations is due to get underway this Friday when England take on Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.