Wales are aiming to surprise England with a combination of “heart and brain” when the two teams meet in Cardiff on Saturday. The caretaker Wales coach, Matt Sherratt, in his final game in charge, believes his team can upset the odds and avoid a 17th successive Test defeat and a second consecutive tournament whitewash.
Sherratt has already helped improve squad morale after the abrupt mid-season departure of Warren Gatland and would love to conclude the campaign with a win to reward the hard work of all involved in the Welsh setup. “If that win comes it would give everyone a massive lift, especially against England at home,” said Sherratt, who will revert to his existing job with Cardiff next week.
“I would love to sign off [with a win], not for me but for the players and staff who have been here for a long time. It would be huge for them. It’s important that it’s not something we talk about a huge amount in camp or you can get a bit desperate. There’ll be emotion on Saturday [but] it’s about getting that balance between heart and brain. There’ll be stacks of heart but we need to get our game on the pitch.”
After an encouraging display against Ireland and a bold second-half revival in Scotland, Sherratt has chosen, where possible, to retain the bulk of the players who started at Murrayfield. In the absence of the injured Tom Rogers, the Scarlets centre Joe Roberts will start on the wing for the first time in his professional career with Aaron Wainwright’s inclusion in the back row ahead of Tommy Reffell the only other tweak to the starting XV.
Sherratt believes it would have been a mistake to overreact on the basis of one below-par half of rugby against Scotland last weekend. “It wasn’t a great half of rugby in Edinburgh but what I didn’t want to do was start jumping around and making too many changes. Sometimes players need to be backed and let them go again.
“I didn’t want to let 25 minutes of rugby dictate selection. If any of us had that after a bad 25 minutes of work, none of us would be sat here. I didn’t want to have any scapegoats. Where we are at the moment being consistent is massively important.”
Wales: B Murray; E Mee, M Llewellyn, B Thomas, J Roberts; G Anscombe, T Williams; N Smith, E Dee, W John, W Rowlands, D Jenkins, A Wainwright, J Morgan (capt), T Faletau. Replacements: D Lake, G Thomas, K Assiratti, E Williams, T Reffell, R Williams, J Evans, N Tompkins.
England: M Smith; T Roebuck, T Freeman, F Dingwall, E Daly; F Smith, A Mitchell; E Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, W Stuart, M Itoje (capt), O Chessum, T Curry, B Curry, B Earl. Replacements: J George, F Baxter, J Heyes, C Cunningham-South, H Pollock, T Willis, J van Poortvliet, G Ford
With fit wings in short supply, however, Roberts has been trusted to rise to the big occasion despite his lack of previous positional experience, having impressed as a replacement in Scotland. “I know he’s not played wing a massive amount but he just seems the type of character that doesn’t overthink it and he backs his own ability,” said Sherratt. The temptation to start with the attack-minded Harlequins fly-half Jarod Evans, however, has been resisted with the experienced Gareth Anscombe retaining the No 10 jersey.
Having grown up in Gloucester, Sherratt also knows what a Wales v England fixture means on both sides of the Severn estuary and knew instinctively the best way to refocus minds for Cardiff after the Murrayfield disappointment. “Traditionally, it’s what you grow up watching. It’s what a lot of your rugby memories are about. On Monday we put a slide up showing the stadium, the date and the time of the game. Everything has been leading up to Saturday.
“It won’t need an emotional buildup. It’s about not overloading them mentally as that will take away some of their energy. Emotionally they’ll be there but it’s important physically that they’ve got bags of energy in their legs. That’s been the balance but there’s a massive excitement to play against England at home.”
It will also be the first time the 27-year-old Wainwright, Taulupe Faletau and the captain, Jac Morgan, have started in the same back row since Wales defeated Australia 40-6 in Lyon at the 2023 World Cup. Sherratt decided to employ two openside flankers in Reffell and Morgan in the losses to Ireland and Scotland but, despite England picking both Curry twins and Ben Earl, has opted this time for Wainwright’s extra height and physicality. Wales’ most recent Test victory came against Georgia in October 2023 and they have lost their last eight Six Nations matches at the Principality Stadium.
