Wizard Williams a Wales worry

WALES wing wizard Shane Williams has only a “50-50” chance of being fit to weave his magic against England tomorrow.

That will be music to the ears of England boss Martin Johnson, whose under-performing squad arrived in Cardiff yesterday for the RBS Six Nations showdown.

Williams is battling to recover from an ankle injury suffered during Wales’ tournament-opening victory over Scotland last weekend.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland hopes to make just one change from that successful Murrayfield mission, having recalled fit-again captain Ryan Jones instead of blindside flanker Dafydd Jones.

But Scarlets wing Mark Jones, who has not played since undergoing appendix surgery last month, is on full alert to replace Williams, while Dafydd Jones could rapidly reappear off the replacements’ bench if number eight Andy Powell is sidelined by a calf muscle strain.

Powell pulled up in training yesterday, although fears about his prospects are less than those for current world player of the year Williams.

Gatland said: “We have given Shane until tomorrow because he’s a bit of a talisman for us.

“I think he had 20-odd touches against Scotland last weekend, which for a wing is pretty exceptional.

“He is the biggest concern — he’s probably 50-50.

“Andy is probably 90-10 in favour of being fit. It’s just a tightness of the calf, and hopefully it will ease up.”

Mark Jones, despite a chronic shortage of rugby since Christmas, will be promoted from outside the match-day 22 to win his 44th cap if Williams is ruled out.

Gatland accepts England are currently “quite hard to read”.

After a dismal autumn series that produced defeats against South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, England at least launched their Six Nations campaign by scoring five tries to beat Italy, even if it proved a painfully laboured display.

Wales have been installed as red-hot favourites to dispatch England, making it two wins out of two before tackling France in Paris later this month. And England’s preference for a kicking-oriented game is an open secret, promising a beauty-versus-the-beast tie.

Gatland added: “We expect a set-piece game, with England happy to kick a lot of ball out and to compete at lineouts. But when it is backs-to-the-wall stuff, it’s a great position to turn up to a game in.

“They have picked quite a physical team, they will be good at the lineouts, they have got some good ball-carriers and they will play a lot of territory.

“(For) England, at the moment, it is about getting a result, rather than performance, and then trying to build after getting a few wins.’’

Gatland though is also well aware about the dangers of people writing England off.

“How many times has it happened in the past where people have rocked up to see a Welsh team expecting to win, and they’ve gone away disappointed?” he asked rhetorically. “If we play to our potential, we’ve got a good chance of winning, but there are two teams involved here.

“One team is smarting from a lot of criticism of recent performances and a lot of criticism of the coaching set-up and stuff.

“I think they will come out really looking to put us under pressure.

“Their backs are to the wall, and if they come away from there, then not just us, but everyone, will get the old two fingers up and they can jump on the bus and go away pretty satisfied.”

WALES (v England): 15 L Byrne (Ospreys); 14 L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), 13 T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), 12 J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), 11 S Williams (Ospreys); 10 S Jones (Scarlets), 9 M Phillips (Ospreys); 1 G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), 2 M Rees (Scarlets), 3 A Jones (Ospreys), 4 I Gough (Ospreys), 5 A-W Jones (Ospreys), 6 R Jones (Ospreys, capt), 7 M Williams (Cardiff Blues), 8 A Powell (Cardiff Blues).

Replacements: H Bennett (Ospreys), J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), D Jones (Scarlets), D Peel (Sale Sharks), J Hook (Ospreys), A Bishop (Ospreys).