Welsh banana skin gives England golden Six Nations opportunity

Wales may be on a 16-match losing run but a fierce Six Nations rivalry never lacks meaning, which gives Steve Borthwick’s men a fascinating challenge

“We can’t be having that, can we?” Dafydd Jenkins smirked, the Wales lock stoking the fires when asked about the prospect of England winning a Six Nations title in Cardiff. The plight of the home side may mean a meeting that, on paper, looks more lopsided than this encounter ever should but this rivalry still burns as brightly and intense as any that this championship has to offer.

Over the Severn Bridge England travel needing a favour from another auld foe to have a hope. France will need to lose to Scotland to give Steve Borthwick’s side a shot at hoisting the trophy late on Saturday night, but England dare not be preoccupied by the permutations, nor overlook the task at hand. Taking care of their own business is a prerequisite to any mathematics that may follow; it may be 16 consecutive defeats for Wales but a win at the Principality never comes easy.

“However many games they have lost on the bounce, it almost makes it simpler because you just come out swinging,” Ben Earl said this week. “The moment you are not right on it, international rugby has a pretty harsh way of telling you that.

“They will be at their best, we have got to be at our best. If [some tough experiences] have taught me one thing it is that this game owes you absolutely nothing against any sort of opposition. You sleepwalk into any sort of game, you expect a game to go a certain way it won’t. That has been a big message for us this week – it is as big as it gets this week.”

Wales and England often play out close contests (Getty Images)

England have been here before, heading to Cardiff with a title in sight. The task was rather more straightforward 12 years ago as Stuart Lancaster’s side went west seeking a grand slam on Super Saturday; away they were sent most dismissively by a home side producing one of the great Six Nations performances to storm to a 30-3 victory and the 2013 championship spoils.

We feel a long way from that sort of situation and that Welsh team – the kind recollected with misty eyes and wistful words of a prosperous past. The fall has been sharp, steep and sore; the immensely likeable Matt Sherratt may have proved a temporary shot in the arm for an ailing nation but clearly there are much larger maladies in need of medicine.

The interim boss was overcome with emotion as he spoke of how much this opportunity had meant for him, even if he again insisted that it would only be a three-match stint. Sherratt also sought to underline what a win would mean for Welsh rugby – if Cardiff felt subdued in the dark final days of the second Gatland premiership, the city should be jumping for a fixture it relishes like no other.

“I would love to sign off [with a win], not for me but for the players and staff who have been here for a long time,” Sherratt said. “It would be huge for them. It’s important that it’s not something we talk about a huge amount about in camp or you can get a bit desperate. Maybe the emotion takes over some of the technical or tactical aspects.

“It’s getting that balance between heart and brain. There’ll be stacks of heart. We need to get our game on the pitch. If that win comes, it would give everyone a massive lift, especially against England at home.”

There is a sense that England have opened the door a little by a bold, perhaps brazen, selection. It is not so much a starting side that slots together but the lack of bench cover at key positions. To enter any Test without specialist cover at inside centre or lock would feel a significant risk; for this game, with a four-win campaign within reach, it feels an unnecessary gamble.

That he has had the temerity to tinker and tweak comes partly as a reflection of the visitors’ problems of player development and also as a nod to where Wales are. But it equally plays into the identity shift that Borthwick wants England to continue, eschewing the conservative option to play big and play bold. The former lock was frustrated that his side stayed in the arm-wrestle against Scotland; though successful in the tussle, he would rather they find a different, more expansive route out.

England have been encouraged to continue to expand their attacking horizons (Action Images via Reuters)

“I think the context of who we're playing against, or where we're playing, is not the most important thing,” the England boss insisted, wishing not for his side to be cowed by the Cardiff crowd. “The most important thing is the attitude with which we approach the game and the way we play. I'm very clear - I want the team to play this week with bravery and speed on the ball. We want them to play big.

“Wherever we play, we want to make sure we play the way we want to and find a way to win. As the team develops, that habit has got to become the norm.”

The Principality has a habit of chewing up untried Englishmen and spitting them out – Mathew Tait in 2005, Tom Pearson in a World Cup warm-up in 2023 – but Borthwick hands Henry Pollock an opportunity off the bench. It is the first real nod to a future that all at the Rugby Football Union (RFU) feel is bright, with England’s U20s seeking a second straight Six Nations title at Cardiff Arms Park on Friday night. Pollock and talented prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour are the first graduates of that group to make it into the senior set-up; others, like Welsh-born hooker Kepu Tuipulotu, may be soon to follow.

Which makes the here and now of vital importance to build confidence both internally and externally in the Borthwick project. Win on Saturday and England will finish with a full Six Nations flourish for the first time in five years and the delayed denouement to the 2020 tournament. In fact, it would be just their second final-round win since 2016’s grand slam. It may have all the makings of a banana skin but this is a chance for Borthwick and his side to accelerate their development again.