One of the most anticipated Six Nations games of the season takes place this weekend as England host Wales at Twickenham with both sides currently unbeaten. We catch up with O2 Inside Line this week to see what’s been going on.
England have made four changes for this game, with Manu Tuilagi coming into the midfield to join Brad Barritt, and Owen Farrell shifting over to flyhalf in the absence of injured Charlie Hodgson.
Barrit and Tuilagi, both known for the physically, may well prove the key to England halting the fire power the Welsh backs have out wide and in their centers. On today’s O2 Inside Line we see Tuilagi cooking up a pancake storm with Toby Flood, who moves onto the bench.
Ben Youngs shifts to the bench after an apparent drop in form, with Lee Dickson taking up the number nine role, while Geoff Parling gets a start in front of him, with Tom Palmer being dropped.
During the week the forwards did some intensive cardio that replicated match day situations, where they were required to get up off the floor rapidly, working on their speed and agility. We can see how that went in the video, as well as the usual team banter among the players, specifically directed at new captain Chris Robshaw, who seems to be a lot busier these days.
England team:
15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle; 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 1 Alex Corbisiero, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Mouritz Botha, 5 Geoff Parling, 6 Tom Croft, 7 Chris Robshaw, 8 Ben Morgan
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Mike Brown
Wales team:
15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 1, Gethin Jenkins, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Adam Jones, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 5 Ian Evans, 6 Dan Lydiate, 7 Sam Warburton, 8 Toby Faletau
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Paul James, 18 Ryan Jones, 19 Justin Tipuric, 20 Lloyd Williams, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Scott Williams
To get the inside scoop on the squad, as well as fun features, match analysis and up to the minute player interviews with presenters Austin Healey and Abi Griffiths, sign up for alerts and watch O2 Inside Line on RFU TV at O2InsideLine.com / #O2InsideLine
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