Of all the sounds that might come drifting through the trees in Surrey’s stockbroker belt, Welsh hymns and arias are not normally high on the list. On the eve of their Six Nations Championship trip to Cardiff, England are clearly bracing themselves for a hostile reception and in the wake of their 30-3 loss in 2013, are keen to reduce the “Delilah factor” by any means they can.
A similar stiff upper lip message is discernible on the team sheet, where experienced hands such as Dan Cole, James Haskell, Tom Croft and Nick Easter have been recalled to fill the gaps left by the squad’s recent spate of injuries.
With nine members of the matchday 23 having never played a Test at the Millennium Stadium, however, it was also deemed necessary to pump up the volume via loudspeakers at the team’s indoor training facility in Bagshot to prepare England’s younger players for the noise levels in store.
Stuart Lancaster, interestingly, has also made clear he wants the stadium roof to remain open for Friday night’s eagerly-awaited tournament opener. As far as the head coach is concerned, a dry – if cold – weather forecast removes the need for a lid on the leeky cauldron and memories of the screeching din which accompanied England’s last fateful visit to Cardiff have not wholly faded.
“If it’s going to be dry, why do you need a roof?” said Lancaster, having confirmed his starting lineup. “Both teams would prefer to play in decent conditions so it will play to their strengths as well as ours. It’ll be pretty noisy anyway. And it’s going to be at night so it’ll still be dark overhead.”
Given both sides must agree for the roof to be shut – in contrast to World Cup fixtures where protocol dictates that any stadium roofs should be closed – spectators might be advised to pack an extra pair of long johns.
On both sides of the Severn bridge there are those who will argue that if England are worried about a little bit of Welsh singing they are being oversensitive; better, surely, to focus on shutting up the home support instead?
In truth it is all rather more prosaic – England’s game-shapers need to be able to communicate even when they cannot hear each other – and Lancaster is anxious to avoid a repeat of the tactical mix-ups which helped Wales to pull away two years ago.
“One of the bits of feedback we gave the players last time was that the acoustics of the Millennium Stadium are so loud that you can’t hear sometimes. Until they had experienced it they didn’t really know but afterwards they all said: ‘You were right.’ I didn’t want to leave it to chance this time.”
A similar desire not to make Wales’s job easier than necessary underpinned England’s entire selection, once it became clear they would be without a dozen potential starters. A midfield pairing of Luther Burrell and Jonathan Joseph would not have been everyone’s prediction a few weeks ago but Joseph has been absolutely outstanding for Bath lately and Burrell offers a gain-line presence that has been lacking in Manu Tuilagi’s extended absence.
England’s fly-half George Ford also has a good working relationship with Joseph and believes his club-mate will pose questions of the Wales defence that even Tuilagi might struggle to pose. “In attack this season he has been world-class and his defence has been brilliant as well. He always has the ability to create something out of nothing, like you saw against Toulouse last month.
“There aren’t many players around like that and to play with him is massively exciting. He has definitely earned his start.”
This will be Lancaster’s 11th centre pairing in three years – his latest duo boast only 13 caps compared with the 107 of Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies – but Joseph is visibly thrilled to have finally been given a chance (in the absence of Tuilagi, Brad Barritt and Kyle Eastmond) to forge a new partnership with Burrell. “I think it’ll be a nice balance, said the 23-year-old. “If we have a chance to play and it is on, we’ll play. We don’t want to waste opportunities, we want to be challenging defences.”
Danny Cipriani, back on the bench after Stephen Myler’s tight calf left Lancaster with no alternative, will echo that sentiment. First and foremost, though, England will seek to subdue the Welsh pack and replicate the forward dominance of last season’s fixture at Twickenham rather then obsessing about 2013. “We’ve probably talked as much about the game at Twickenham that we won,” said Lancaster, stressing that next autumn’s World Cup pool fixture is not his most pressing priority. “I would say it’s less relevant at the moment, it’s all about the here and now. It’s the start of the Six Nations and it’s in Wales. That’s enough.”
