England v Wales – 6 Nations
This is Richard Shaw Wright Looking ahead to week two of the Six Nations rugby union and our second game sees England take on Wales.
Now England's narrow victory over Italy was a surprise because of the margin, not the result, and I hope that the experience picked up there can be taken into Saturday afternoon's match at Twickenham, with both sides in a state of some transition I think it's fair to say.
Wales will prove a much tougher test than despite defeat to Scotland in round one their second-half comeback having been 20-0 down at half time to lose 27-26 certainly gave them plenty of positives to work with as well.
Now another positive for them in a tough game is the return of George North picking up his 119th cap for Wales on Saturday and give him another boost and he can't discount the massive edge of experience that coach Warren Gatland has in international coaching over his opposite number, Steve Borthwick.
England should win. That said. But there's no way I can take the -10 points on the handicap. Having had my fingers burned badly last week in that Italy game, I wonder, based on the evidence of last week, if England to cover the first half handicap, especially at home. It might be worth a look in terms of try scorers. Let's take a pair with Georges, Captain Jamie for England and be turning North for Wales.
Selection – England win