Beating England would be major feat, says Phillips

RBS 6 Nations: Wales V England

And the Bayonne scrum-half believes a victory of any size against Chris Robshaw’s Grand Slam-chasing team deserves to be ranked as a major feat.

Wales will retain the championship crown – an achievement they last managed in 1979 – by beating England with a seven-point margin and staying ahead in overall tournament try-count.

An eight-point win or more would render try-count irrelevant, with unbeaten England also being denied a first tournament clean sweep since 2003. Given Wales trailed Ireland 30-3 after 45 minutes of their opening game six weeks ago, to have even clawed their way back into the title race deserves acclaim.

“We’ve just got to go out there and win the game, end of story,” said Phillips, who will become Wales’ most capped scrum-half when he makes his 77th Test match appearance.

“They are a great side, they’ve beaten New Zealand and had a great run. Beating them by one point would be a great achievement. I think they are a fantastic rugby side. Hopefully, if we can perform to our best, then who knows what will unfold. We have just got to concentrate on winning the game.”

England captain Chris Robshaw insists his Grand Slam-chasing team will be ready for anything and everything. Robshaw revealed England have even prepared for the Millennium Stadium band to march straight through their warm-up, and he knows it is attention to such fine detail that could ultimately contribute towards England ending a 10-year Grand Slam wait.

“We know what happens if we win, and we know what happens if they win,” Robshaw said. “We both know what we want to get out of this game and it is about showing that intent from the off. Both sides will want to get off to a great start and build momentum from that.

“We’ve been to intimidating places before, the likes of Ellis Park (in Johannesburg), and Wales is definitely up there. People speak about it as probably one of the best places to actually go and play rugby.

“If you give the crowd an opportunity to get into the game in the first 10 minutes, then it’s going to be a long old afternoon, as we found at Ellis Park (last summer), when we were 20 points down in 20 minutes.

“When you come to a place like Cardiff, you might get one or two chances, and we’ve got to make sure we are good enough to make it count, whether it is the first minute or the 80th minute,” Robshaw said. “It is one thing saying it and it is another thing doing it. That is the challenge we have.”