The first game between the two arch-rivals was on Saturday, 15 January, 1910, in front of a crowd of 18,000 when England ended a run of 12 years without a win over Wales. Their 11-6 victory in the first international played at Twickenham included a try from the kick-off by the Bridgend forward Ben Gronow.
“After the opening whistle, Wales kicked off towards the right touchline, with Adrian Stoop gathering the ball on the England 25 and fooling the Welsh defence when he decided to run rather than kick into touch. He put in a short kick, with the English forwards re-gathering and winning the ball from the ensuing maul before the scrum half, Dai Gent, set John Birkett into a hole. Birkett took advantage of the disorganised Welsh defence to race through the middle before passing to team mate Fred Chapman as he came to the Welsh full back, Jack Bancroft. Chapman then outpaced the cover defence to score the first try at Twickenham, right from the kick-off.”
Wales had to wait until their 10th visit to the venue in 1933 for their first win, 7-3, with a team captained by No 8 Watcyn Thomas. That was the first of 13 wins at the home of English rugby, the other triumphs coming in 1950, 1952, 1956, 1966, 1970, 1972, 1976, 1978, 1984, 1988, 2008 and 2012.
Only Ireland, with 13 wins from 47 visits, rival Welsh success at Twickenham. The Scots have won only four times there and the French 11 times.
ENGLAND V WALES HEAD-TO-HEAD
- They have met 126 times in Test matches. England have won 58 times, Wales 56 times and there have been 12 draws.
- England have won their last two games against Wales, this after losing three in a row against them.
- Earlier this year, England triumphed 21-16 in Cardiff in the RBS 6 Nations Championship. Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph scored tries for England.
- Wales last defeated England at Twickenham on 25 February, 2012. The match finished 19-12, with Leigh Halfpenny scoring 14 points for Wales and Owen Farrell providing all of England’s points. Scott Williams scored the only try of the match.
- Dan Cole, Geoff Parling, Chris Robshaw, Ben Morgan, Owen Farrell and Brad Barritt all started that last defeat for England in 2012. Rob Webber, Courtney Lawes, Ben Youngs and Mike Brown all came on from the bench.
- For Wales, Gethin Jenkins, Ken Owens, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau, Mike Phillips, Rhys Priestland, George North, Jamie Roberts and Alex Cuthbert all started that day. Scott Williams came on from the bench.
- The teams have met twice before in World Cup matches, on both occasions at the quarter-final stage.
- On 8 June 1987, Wales defeated England 16-3 in Brisbane to knock them out of RWC 1987. Only twice in the competition have England been restricted to three points or less. The other occasion was when they were beaten 36-0 by South Africa in 2007.
- The second RWC encounter also took place in Brisbane. On 9 November, 2003, England won 28-17 with Jonny Wilkinson leading the way with 23 points for England, who ultimately won the World Cup.
- England’s comeback from seven points down in that match is their biggest recovery to win in a knock-out match at the Rugby World Cup.
ENGLAND . . . DID YOU KNOW
- England started their RWC 2015 campaign with a 35-11 bonus point win against Fiji on Friday 18 September.
- In three previous World Cups England have started with two victories – 1995, 2003, 2011.
- England have conceded more than one try in only one of their past nine RWC matches. That was in the 19-12 quarter-final defeat against France at RWC 2011.
- Ben Youngs and Owen Farrell will form a starting half-back pairing for the first time since 16 March 2013, when Wales beat England 30-3 in Cardiff to claim the RBS 6 Nations title.
- Chris Robshaw will captain England for the 40th time Saturday, overtaking Martin Johnson and moving into outright second place behind Will Carling (59).
- England’s World Cup track record against Five / Six Nations opposition is 6 wins and 3 defeats. This does not include three RWC victories against Italy before 2000.
- England lost four times to Wales in five matches at Twickenham in the 1970s. Since then they have also lost four times in 20 matches.
- England have never lost a World Cup match in England against northern hemisphere opposition.
- England have won their past eight matches at Twickenham since a 31-28 defeat by South Africa last year.
- Just like Wales, England have won seven tests in 2015, a total beaten only by Japan, with 8.
WALES . . . DID YOU KNOW
- Wales started their RWC 2015 with a 54-9 bonus-point triumph against Uruguay at the Millennium Stadium last Sunday.
- Wales scored eight tries in that match, seven of which were converted by Rhys Priestland.
- Cory Allen scored the tournament’s first hat-trick but also suffered a hamstring injury that ended his World Cup.
- Wales’ track record in Rugby World Cup matches facing Five / Six Nations opposition is 4 wins and 3 defeats. Since 1987, they have alternated wins and defeats against these opponents and should the trend continue, they will win on Saturday.
- Wales have started three other World Cup campaigns with two wins in a row – 1987, 1999 and 2003.
- Just like England, Wales have won seven tests in 2015, a total beaten by only Japan, with 8.
- Seven of the 23 players selected by Wales for Saturday’s match were born in England. They are Tomas Francis, Dan Lydiate, Hallam Amos, George North, Aaron Jarvis, Luke Charteris and Alex Cuthbert.
- Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), George North (Northampton Saints), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), Bradley Davies (Wasps) and Rhys Priestland will all go back to play for English clubs after the World Cup.
- Wales have had to replace four players due to injury for RWC 2015. Leigh Halfpenny, Rhys Webb, Eli Walker and Cory Allen have all been ruled out through injury.
- Wales need 27 points to become the seventh team to reach 1,000 in RWC history.
