This weekend will arguably be the biggest weekend of the 6 Nations as it will see the two strongest teams fight it out for the trophy. They have been playing each other since 1881 with a fierce rivalry building between them over the years.
Since they first played on the 19th February 1881, they have played a total of 127 matches with England winning 58 and Wales 57. Only 12 of the games have been draws. With the wins so close they are both desperate to beat their closest rivals in the table and get one more win for themselves.
The English team is as follows:
Forwards: Kieran Brookes, Dan Cole, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jack Clifford, Dylan Hartley©, James Haskell, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Joe Launchbury, Joe Marler, Chris Robshaw, Billy Vunipola, Mako Vunipola
Backs: Mike Brown, Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Owen Farrell, George Ford, Jonathan Joseph, Jack Nowell, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Watson, Ben Youngs.
In the England squad, Mike Brown has narrowly avoided being cited for his stamp on Conor Murray, who needed stitches near his left eye, in the game against Ireland when Brown tried to kick the ball from Murray in a ruck on the 5 metre line.
Manu Tuilagi has also been included in the England but Richard Cockerill, the director of rugby at Leicester Tigers, says due to him struggling with groin and hamstring problems he is not fit enough to return to international rugby. But England coach Eddie Jones has ignored Cockerill’s advice and put him in the squad ahead of Alex Goode.
The Welsh team is unchanged from the game against France. It is as follows:
Forwards: Scott Baldwin, Luke Charteris, Bradley Davies, Rob Evans, Taulupe Faletau, Tomas Francis, Paul James, Alun Wyn Jones, Samson Lee, Dan Lydiate, Ken Owens, Justin Tipuric, Sam Warburton
Backs: Gareth Anscombe, Dan Biggar, Alex Cuthbert, Gareth Davies, Jonathan Davies, George North, Rhys Priestland, Jamie Roberts, Rhys Webb, Liam Williams
Jamie Roberts says that the whole squad will be thinking of Saturday as the final. They think that whoever wins the game will go on to win the cup so in the Welsh camp they will be hoping to keep up the record of beating England in the bigger games.