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Wales braces for England

English players gather around prior to the team's training ahead of their match against Wales Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, today. PHOTO: AFP

With 110 head-to-head matches over more than 122 years, few nations share a richer rugby history than England and Wales.

But Wales coach Steve Hansen says the past is irrelevant as his young team looks to make its own rugby history in Sunday's World Cup encounter quarterfinal.

"There's no history between the team we've picked and the team [England] have picked," said Hansen. "This is the first time this group of people have come together."

The New Zealand-born Hansen said while history and tradition were great, they "have no relevance on the day."

"What happens when the whistle goes is what will create history, and all we can worry about is creating our own history with our performance," Hansen said.

The quarterfinal will be a clash of youth versus experience as Wales fields a team dominated by emerging stars against England's proven lineup.

While No. 1-ranked England enters the match as clear favorite, coach Clive Woodward said his team was taking nothing for granted.

"Everyone is very clear -- we'll either be flying to London or flying to Sydney," after the match, Woodward said. The semifinals are in Sydney. "We've got to win this game and hopefully fly to Sydney."

Nonetheless, Woodward said he was confident his team would progress to the final four.

"We're always confident going into games that we'll achieve our targets," he said.

"We're playing against a very dangerous side, but we're happy with our lineout, our scrum, what we can do in the contact area -- defensively and in attack."

Wales, buoyed by an impressive performance in its tight 53-37 loss to New Zealand last week, made four changes to its starting XV for the match, including recalls for rugby league convert Iestyn Harris, winger Mark Jones and veteran back Gareth Thomas.

The only change in the forwards was the return of Dafydd Jones to the backrow for Alix Popham.

Hansen said if Wales was going to match England up front, it would have to carry some big forwards.

"We're going to go against a pack that's probably the biggest in world rugby and we're going to start with a big pack ourselves," Hansen said. "We have to get some parity in the set pieces and around the park if we want to compete with them."

Regular flanker Martyn Williams finds himself on bench, which also includes 20-year-old backrower Jonathan Thomas and creative flyhalf Ceri Sweeney.
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