Right then… Wales vs England. Wales on a historic losing run, England with an outside chance of the title.

Not that Wales needed any more motivation, but the chance to end Matt Sherratt’s invigorating interim spell in charge with a victory and ruin England’s tournament would be a sweet thing indeed.

Without further adothen, let’s dig into the big Sportin Wales preview!

Team News

Sherratt has made two changes to the Wales XV that lost 35-29 in Edinburgh last weekend, with one tactical change and one enforced one.

Tom Rogers, who had had an impressive tournament, unfortunately picked up and injury in the first half against Scotland and is ruled out for this one. Add to the fact that Josh Adams’ hamstring injury is worse than first thought, Wales are short on wingers.

This means Ellis Mee switches from the left to right wing and centre Joe Roberts wears the 11 shirt. A left footed kicking option, Roberts was good as emergency cover at Murrayfield and keeps his place ahead of Gloucester speedster Josh Hathaway.

The tactical change is that Aaron Wainwright wears the number six shirt, with Jac Morgan switching to openside and Tommy Reffell dropping to the bench. Wales lacked carrying options against Scotland and lost ground in contact. Wainwright will help remedy this.

With Rogers out of the squad, Nick Tompkins comes back in and will wear the 23 shirt.

‘Sometimes players need to be backed’

Speaking after the Wales squad was announced on Thursday, Matt Sherratt was keen to stress that keeping the same group together for his three games would be the best route to an elusive first win in 18 months.

“I’ve been really impressed with Joe’s (Roberts) attitude in camp,” Sherratt said.

“He doesn’t overthink it and he backs his ability. Aaron (Wainwright) speaks for himself. He’s been unlucky not to be selected.”

Sherratt also spoke of how much he’d loved his time as interim coach for the last month or so.

“It’s been brilliant for me and my family,” he added.

“That’s been a massive influence for me, having my sons at the game. Seeing them enjoy it is massive. It’s been a pleasure to do.

“Getting to know the new players. Some of the boys I’ve coached before. But it’s been great coaching a new bunch of lads. The staff and the players here, I know we haven’t had the results, but there’s a huge amount of effort and positivity.

“It’s been brilliant.”

The Opposition

In the wake of their own injury and form issues, Steve Borthwick has rung the changes for England this week.

His boldest decision is to select three natural opensides in his starting XV, with twin brothers Ben and Tom Curry joined by Ben Earl in the back row. Add in potential debutant Henry Pollock on the bench and England have four options for the 7 shirt in their 23.

Elsewhere, England’s lack of second rows means Harlequins forward Chandler Cunningham-South is the cover, while the 6-2 bench split means Jack van Portvliet and George Ford are the back cover.

In the backs, Tommy Freeman moves inside to centre, with an all-Northampton 9-10-12-13. Sale’s Tom Roebuck replaces Freeman on the wing, with Daly moving from 15 to 11 and Marcus Smith back in the starting XV.

England have an outside chance of winning the Six Nations title in Cardiff on Saturday, but need to win with a bonus point and hope Scotland do them a favour in Paris against title favourites France.

Stats… The Good and the Bad

Perhaps the most interesting stat ahead of this match is England’s terrible record on the last day Six Nations campaigns.

Since beating France in Paris to win the Grand Slam in 2016, the visitors on Saturday have won just once in eight last round matches.

In 2017 and 2018, they lost to Ireland and a year later, as Wales were celebrating a Grand Slam, they were drawing a mad match with Scotland 38-38.

2020 – the last time England won the competition – they beat Italy in front of no fans in Rome.

In 2021, they lost again to Ireland, and the year later they were out matched by a Grand Slam winning France side. More recently, they again have lost to Ireland in Dublin (2023) and France in Paris (2024).

England fans, of course, will retort with the fact that Wales are on a 16-game losing run and one more defeat would equal Italy’s record for the longest losing streak by a Tier 1 nation.

Wales did beat England the last time these two sides met at the Principality Stadium, though, downing England 20-9 in a very memorable World Cup warm-up match.

Teams

Wales

Blair Murray; Ellis Mee, Max Llewellyn, Ben Thomas, Joe Roberts; Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams; Nicky Smith, Elliot Dee, WillGriff John; Will Rowlands, Dafydd Jenkins; Aaron Wainwright, Jac Morgan (capt), Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas, Keiron Assiratti, Teddy Williams, Tommy Reffell, Rhodri Williams, Jarrod Evans, Nick Tompkins.

England

Marcus Smith; Tom Roebuck, Tommy Freeman, Fraser Dingwall, Elliot Daly; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Will Stuart; Maro Itoje (capt), Ollie Chessum; Tom Curry, Ben Curry, Ben Earl.

Replacements: Jamie George, Fin Baxter, Joe Hayes, Chandler Cunningham-South, Henry Pollock, Tom Willis, Jack van Poortvliet, George Ford.

---

Sportin Wales’s coverage of the men’s and U20’s Six Nations is proudly sponsored by S4C. You can watch all of Wales’s matches this spring for free on S4C and S4C Clic.

If you want to read more pieces from Sportin Wales, why not read to our monthly magazine here or subscribe to the magazine and newsletter at https://sportin.wales/subscribe/.

Our podcast is back for the new season and our co-founder Alex Cuthbert is in charge! You can find all the episodes here or the video versions on our YouTube channel.

You can also keep track of our pieces and videos on our socials at @Sportin_Wales on X or Sportin Wales on Instagram and Facebook.