Six Nations 2024: England and Wales prepare for ‘biggest game’

It will be more than just bragging rights at stake when England and Wales renew their long-standing rivalry at Twickenham in the Six Nations on Saturday.

The hosts will want to continue building momentum as they try to whip up a frenzy on their return to Twickenham, while Wales are looking to kick-start their campaign after defeat by Scotland.

Steve Borthwick’s home side are unchanged from their opening win over Italy, but the visitors make seven changes for their short trip to a ground where recent history has not been kind to them.

England have made no secret of an ambition to fortify their London base, but they will have to quickly erase the bitter memory of the World Cup warm-up defeat by Fiji in their last home game.

Under the leadership of new captain Jamie George and backed by the vociferous Twickenham crowd, this is an England side intent on setting the record straight.

Hooker George wants to entertain and “put smiles on faces” among the England fanbase. Victory in Rome showed glimpses of greater attacking endeavour despite England being outscored 3-2 in tries by the Azzurri.

Wales arrive at Twickenham without a victory in their last seven visits.

Wins in 2008 and 2012 paved the way to Grand Slams, before they dumped the hosts out of their own World Cup in 2015, but those are the exceptions rather than the rule.

Wales trailed 27-0 before launching a fightback to reduce the deficit to a single point in Cardiff, but an equally slow start in a hostile English environment could leave them with an insurmountable task.

England will continue to implement their new blitz defence to try to thwart the Wales attack, but that could present the visitors with opportunities in the wide channels.

Lock Ollie Chessum was out of sync with his team-mates and caught out for both of Italy’s first-half tries, but the hosts will have worked on their cohesion with defence coach Felix Jones all week so expect a more polished set-up.

However, wing Rio Dyer starred in Wales’ recovery last weekend and if Gatland’s players can negate England’s rush defence in midfield, they could exploit the flanks.

Elsewhere, it is a case of tried and tested against a relative newcomer looking to create his own legacy at fly-half.

The experienced George Ford will collect his 93rd cap for England, while opposite number Ioan Lloyd will win only his fourth in his first start for Wales.

From a Wales point…