Preview: England v Wales
Everything you need to know ahead of England's Guinness Men's Six Nations fixture against Wales at Twickenham.
Warren Gatland's Wales team travel to Twickenham off the back of a narrow 26-27 home defeat to Scotland in round one, while a Jamie George-led England outfit enter the weekend having won their opening tie against Italy.
Scores from Elliot Daly and Alex Mitchell, as well as 17 points from George Ford secured the 24-27 victory in Rome as Gonzalo Quesada's Azzurri responded with tries from Alessandro Garbisi and Monty Ioane.
| When? | Saturday 10 February |
| Where? | Twickenham Stadium, London |
| Kick off | 16:45 GMT |
| Where can I watch? | ITV |
England last faced Wales in back-to-back fixtures ahead of the Rugby World Cup last year. Following a loss in the first game at the Principality, Borthwick's charges hosted the second, emerging 19-17 victors in front of a Twickenham crowd thanks to a Maro Itoje try and a late Ford penalty.
STATS & FACTS
England have won each of their last five Guinness Men’s Six Nations home matches against Wales, however, each of their last four such victories have come by margins of fewer than seven points; England have led at half time in each of their 12 home games against Wales in the Championship, the only side they’re yet to trail against at the break at Twickenham.
England won their opening game of this year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations (27-24 v Italy), they have not lost a Round 2 fixture in a campaign after winning their opener since 2009, when they lost to Wales (15-23) after an opening round win against Italy (36-11).
Wales have won just one of their last nine games in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations (L8), however, their sole win in that period came away from home (29-17 v Italy in 2023), while they lost by just a single point in Round 1 this year (26-27 v Scotland).
England beat more defenders than any other team in the opening round of this year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations (25), while Wales beat the joint-second most (20, also Ireland and France) and were one of three teams to make a joint-high six line breaks (also Italy and Ireland).
England’s Maro Itoje (33) was one of three players to hit 30+ attacking rucks in the opening round of this year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations, alongside Caelan Doris (31) and Wales’ Dafydd Jenkins (35), while he won a turnover or slowed down three defensive rucks, the joint most of any player alongside Wales’ Tommy Reffell.
George North could make his 50th appearance in the Guinness Six Nations, becoming the fourth Welsh player to reach half a century in the Championship (since 2000), after Stephen Jones (50), Gethin Jenkins (56) and Alun Wyn Jones (67); North is also just three tries away from Brian O’Driscoll’s all-time try scoring record in the Six Nations (23, O’Driscoll – 26).
Views from camp
Steve Borthwick: "Whilst last week’s performance was far from perfect, it was a promising start. This blend of experience and leadership gives these guys that are fairly new in the international environment continuity and cohesion. We expect the very best version of a very good Wales team."
Jamie George: "We want to build on the foundations we laid in Rome. There’s a huge amount of excitement, this game means a lot to rugby fans in England.
"I have been very impressed with everyone that has come into the squad, Immanuel in particular, he is a very confident guy and isn’t phased by the occasion."
TEAMS
England
15. Freddie Steward, 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Fraser Dingwall, 11. Elliot Daly, 10. George Ford, 9. Alex Mitchell, 1. Joe Marler, 2. Jamie George - captain, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Ollie Chessum, 6. Ethan Roots, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Ben Earl.
Replacements
16. Theo Dan, 17. Ellis Genge, 18. Dan Cole, 19. Alex Coles, 20. Chandler Cunningham-South, 21. Danny Care, 22. Fin Smith, 23. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Wales
15. Cameron Winnett, 14. Josh Adams, 13. George North, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Rio Dyer, 10. Ioan Lloyd, 9. Tomos Williams, 1. Gareth Thomas, 2. Elliot Dee, 3. Keiron Assiratti, 4. Dafydd Jenkins - captain, 5. Adam Beard, 6. Alex Mann, 7. Tommy Reffell, 8. Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements
16. Ryan Elias, 17. Corey Domachowski, 18. Archie Griffin, 19. Will Rowlands, 20. Taine Basham, 21. Kieran Hardy, 22. Cai Evans, 23. Mason Grady.
Previous Encounters
2023: England 19-17 Wales
2023: Wales 20-9 England
2023: Wales 10-20 England
2022: England 23-19 Wales
2021: Wales 40-24 England
2020: Wales 13-24 England
2020: England 33-30 Wales
U20 Men in Action
England U20 Men face Wales in the second round of the U20 Six Nations following their five-try victory in Treviso last Friday. Tries from Josh Bellamy, Finn Carnduff and a Henry Pollock hat-trick secured the 36-11 victory at Stadio Comunale di Monigo.
Team News
Bath Rugby's Recreation Ground will host England v Wales, before Mark Mapletoft's men return in March to face reigning champions Ireland.
England U20 Men's team to face Wales U20 Men
- Tickets for England U20 Men v Wales can be found here
