Rugby: England frustration could spell problems for Wales

England are potentially a fortnight away from losing their Six Nations title and that huge sense of frustration threatens to flatten 10-1 underdogs Wales at Twickenham tomorrow.

England are potentially a fortnight away from losing their Lloyds TSB Six Nations title and that huge sense of frustration threatens to flatten 10-1 underdogs Wales at Twickenham tomorrow.

‘‘Tomorrow cannot come quickly enough for me,’’ said England boss Clive Woodward, who has been deprived of Lions trio Martin Johnson, Jason Robinson and Phil Vickery, while also losing his visionary backs coach Brian Ashton through personal reasons.

It is almost three weeks since England flopped against France in Paris, demolished by a combination of thrilling French flair and their own defensive deficiencies.

That 20-15 defeat destroyed another Grand Slam dream, and England’s championship fate now lies in other hands.

They must beat Wales this weekend and Italy in Rome on April 7, while also hoping that France lose one of two remaining Six Nations appointments with Scotland and Ireland.

Ireland are also still firmly in contention, and should they beat France next month after seeing off tournament fall guys Italy tomorrow, then it could all come down to points difference.

Either way, England are no longer controlling their own destiny, and that has annoyed Woodward.

‘‘Losing in France was a big blow, and it is my job to put it right,’’ he added.

‘‘There is a lot of hard work gone into this, and I intend to put it right.’’

Injuries have sidelined full-back Robinson and prop Vickery, their fitness problems coming on top of skipper Johnson’s three-week suspension, which does not expire until next Tuesday.

And while such high-profile absentees will be missed, it says everything about England’s significant squad strength that Woodward can switch one Lion - Austin Healey - from wing to full-back, and call up two others in Dan Luger and Danny Grewcock.

Fourteen years have elapsed since Wales last sampled Twickenham success, an 11-3 victory during a Triple Crown-winning season when players like two-try hero Adrian Hadley, fly-half Jonathan Davies and centre Mark Ring strutted their stuff.

Of the 27 Twickenham Tests played under Woodward’s four-and-a-half-year tenure, England boast 22 victories, two draws - against New Zealand and Australia - and just three defeats.

‘‘We’ve received a lot of criticism since the French game, and there is no doubt that some of our basics in defence were poor, and our kicking game also,’’ said stand-in skipper Neil Back, who wins his 49th cap tomorrow.

‘‘The French result made us look at ourselves. Phil Larder (England’s defence coach) put his hands up and accepted part of the responsibility, but we are all in it together, and there was a massive sense of frustration.

‘‘We know that Scott Quinnell and Rob Howley are the two key players in the Welsh side. We’ve got to close their space down, and over the last three years, that is what England have been very strong at.

‘‘Wales may feel, after watching the French game, that it is an area where they can attack, but we’ve been working hard on that this week and they would be very unwise to do it.’’

Woodward has dropped number eight Joe Worsley, ineffective during this season’s championship, and moved the imperious Richard Hill from blindside flanker, allowing Leicester man Lewis Moody his first Six Nations start in a back-row that has a quick, dynamic look about it.

With scrum-half Matt Dawson back in an England 22 for the first time since October, it will increase pressure on Kyran Bracken to produce a big performance following his miserable Paris afternoon, while fly-half points machine Jonny Wilkinson can probably still see French man-marker Serge Betsen out of the corner of his eye.

There are England players with points to prove, so motivation should not have featured high on Woodward’s agenda this week.

Wales though, having shown steady improvement under caretaker coach Steve Hansen’s direction, could potentially make life difficult.

Quinnell, whose 50th cap beckons tomorrow, and scrum-half Howley are their world-class talismen, at the helm of a side averaging more than 24 Test appearances per player.

But the big question is whether or not Wales will be able to cope defensively with a sustained English attacking onslaught through wide channels, using Healey, Luger and an in-form Ben Cohen.

Ireland could not handle it at Twickenham last month, and they put 54 points on Wales just two weeks earlier.

‘‘England are a very difficult team to analyse because they have so many strengths, but there are one or two areas we can take advantage of, as France showed in Paris,’’ claimed Hansen.

‘‘Obviously, you have got to respect history and statistics, but the bottom line is that this team has not played England before.

‘‘I don’t dwell on the fact that it is England at Twickenham it’s just another game. We have to go out and do things, and feed off the energy of the whole occasion.’’

That said, Wales have lost by 34-point margins on their last two Twickenham visits. It promises to be a similar tale of woe tomorrow.