With Scarlets hooker Matthew Rees unavailable for selection due to injury, the bustling flanker will once again lead his country into action. The 22-year-old led Wales out for the first time against the Barbarians in Rees’s absence, where he confirmed his status as a world class backrow, even if his nerves were jangling a bit when it came to captaincy.
“I feel more relaxed about being captain than I did the first time – it will be a bit easier today,” he said. “It will be a step up from the Barbarians, and the fact it is England will give it extra spice.
“Everyone mentions what happened at Twickenham four years ago (Wales were humbled 62-5 in a World Cup warm-up Test), and we are keen to rectify that.
“But we are about looking forwards, not backwards, concentrating on the positive. This is effectively our first game of the season, and there will be some sore bodies on Sunday.
“We have got into game-mode this week after focusing all summer on training, and we are confident we can put in a good performance at Twickenham.
“Confidence is key going into a World Cup, and we want to get a big scalp to put us in a good position going into our first game in New Zealand against South Africa.
“We know we are going to be rusty and we will not be perfect. There will be mistakes, but the performance will be second to the result.”
Wales’ last two World Cup preparation fixtures against England in 2003 and 2007 saw them concede a total of 105 points and score just 14.
Teams:
England: D Armitage (London Irish); M Banahan (Bath Rugby), M Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), R Flutey (London Wasps), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); J Wilkinson (Toulon), D Care (Harlequins); A Corbisiero (London Irish), D Hartley (Northampton Saints), M Stevens (Saracens), S Shaw (Unattached), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Croft (Leicester Tigers), L Moody (Bath Rugby, capt), J Haskell (Ricoh Black Rams).
Replacements: L Mears (Bath Rugby), D Wilson (Bath Rugby), M Botha (Saracens), T Wood (Northampton Saints), R Wigglesworth (Saracens), C Hodgson (Saracens), C Sharples (Gloucester Rugby).
Wales: R Priestland (Scarlets); G North (Scarlets), J Davies (Scarlets), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), M Phillips (Bayonne); P James (Ospreys), H Bennett (Ospreys), C Mitchell (Exeter), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), A-W Jones (Ospreys), D Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), S Warburton (Cardiff Blues, capt), T Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: L Burns (Newport Gwent Dragons), R Bevington (Ospreys), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), R Jones (Ospreys), T Knoyle (Scarlets), S Williams (Scarlets), M Stoddart (Scarlets).
Log on to http://www.wru.co.uk/live just before kick off and you will be able to follow Wales’s progress minute by minute.
