England v Wales: Six Nations 2024 – live

4 mins. England win the lineout, but after a couple of phases Tommy Reffell puts in a trademark clamp-and-win turnover penalty. The pressure is cleared via Lloyd’s boot.

2 mins. A tidy recovery of the kick-off by Winnett is wasted as next possession the red defence allows Steward to slalom his way through them. The visitors scramble with intent, and Rio Dyer covers a kick that he can only run into touch close to his own line.

George Ford send the ball to the air to get us underway.

A word for Holly Davidson running the line, becoming the first woman to officiate a men’s Six Nations game

The teams are in the tunnel, young captain Daf Jenkins at the head of the Wales line, while Jamie George leads out his nation at home for the first time.

The anthem lineup is formed and we’ll soon have some rugby.

An email from Guy Hornsby

“Well this could be a cracker, Lee. England seemingly wanting to play with more risk, especially in defence where there’s a new blitz method that’ll clearly take time to bed in. Italy exposed it but we got better.

“Wales almost have nothing to lose and feel they can score points after last week. I think it’s good to have the same XV, and I hope we can get Freeman into the game. England should win, and will have better skill on the bench, but they need to keep Wales out and 15 on the pitch.”

Pre match reading dept…

I’ve made it clear I think a Wales win is unlikely, albeit not impossible. Feel free to vehemently disagree via email or on the X thing.

As you were for England, as Borthwick seeks to build consistency of personnel and performance.

Warren Gatland has made wholesale changes for the visitors. In the forwards, an entirely new front row comes in while Alex Mann replaces the injured James Botham. Tomos Williams and Ioan Lloyd start in the half-backs after their leadership of the comeback a week ago and George North returns in the centre.

ENGLAND Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Fraser Dingwall, Elliot Daly; George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Joe Marler, Jamie George (capt), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum, Ethan Roots, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl.

Replacements 16 Theo Dan, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Danny Care, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.

WALES Cameron Winnett; Josh Adams, George North, Nick Tompkins, Rio Dyer; Ioan Lloyd, Tomos Williams; Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Keiron Assiratti, Dafydd Jenkins (capt), Adam Beard, Alex Mann, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Cai Evans, 23 Mason Grady.

The last time Steve Borthwick rose from the head coach’s seat at Twickenham his walk was soundtracked by a cacophony of boos after a pre World Cup defeat to Fiji. After that difficult afternoon England reached the semis of the big tournament, including vanquishing the islanders in the return fixture in France. Borthwick would probably point out his team is developing still and (mostly) wins when it matters. They need to win today.

Despite their 26 point near comeback last week, Wales remain a team with issues. Significant player turnover, either from retirement or injury, has resulted in a squad of callow experience with too many members still to demonstrate whether they are good enough for this level. Gatland’s mitigation of this risk was the rudimentary gameplan that failed spectacularly in the opening forty minutes v Scotland and while the second half was great fun, how reliable a strategy is “chuck Ioan Lloyd in at 10 and give it a lash”? We may find out today.

England didn’t have it all their own way v Italy in their opening fixture, and they are still bedding in a new defensive system under new defence coach Felix Jones. However, in front of a home crowd with an unchanged side, against a Wales team in the midst of a very difficult transition anything short of a win and that familiar sound of booing could ring out once more.