England have been warned not to underestimate the cross-border passion driving Wales in the build-up to their Six Nations match at Twickenham on Saturday. Sam Underhill, the flanker who spent a formative period of his career playing for Ospreys, also believes the home side need to keep close tabs on his Welsh counterpart Justin Tipuric, whom he rates as the best back-row in the world.
Underhill spent two seasons with the Ospreys while at university in Cardiff and saw precisely how much the England game means to Welsh supporters. During his time in Wales he also developed huge respect for Tipuric, whom he played alongside before transferring back across the Severn bridge to Bath.
Wales will also be keenly aware of Underhill’s abilities, not least the superb corner-flagging tackle on Scott Williams which prevented a crucial try at Twickenham two seasons ago, and the 23-year-old is eagerly awaiting a fixture with a genuine crackle to it.
“There’s definitely a special sense of occasion,” said Underhill, who is poised to win his 19th cap this week. “I’ll never be able to know what it really means for them because I’m English but you definitely sense there’s an extra edge and added emotion.
“There’s obviously more to England v Wales than just rugby. Obviously none of us work at Westminster but it’s important to recognise what the game means to both parties. From living over there I’ve seen how much it means to them as a nation. As a player it’s always one to look forward to; it’s the game you want to play in. In the era of professional sport you can’t let things like that distract you too much but for the fans there’s definitely something else.”
As recently as four years ago Underhill was a fan himself and could be found watching the equivalent fixture in the student union bar. “I remember watching in the Taf, which was the student union pub. To be fair it was full of Cardiff students from Surrey so it wasn’t really the same atmosphere as I’m sure it was in Neath or Swansea.”
He still keeps in touch with some of his former Ospreys teammates and remains particularly grateful for everything Tipuric taught him about back‑row play. “I learned a lot from him. He’s a phenomenal player and definitely the most skilful back-row I’ve played with or against. He’s very gifted and those are the guys you want to play against. You want to play against the best, as a team and an individual.”
England, however, will be equally keen to build on their forceful display against Ireland, having surrendered a 10-3 half-time lead to lose 21-13 against Wales in Cardiff just over a year ago. Underhill was not involved on that occasion but believes Eddie Jones’s team are regathering their momentum following their opening defeat in Paris. “Against Ireland we showed with our performance that we are capable of more. We can still get better as a group in terms of performance. We never think we’re there.”
Any chance of England nicking the title this season is now largely dependent on France losing and an improvement in the coronavirus outlook but, having spent part of last week coaching grassroots players at a Canterbury‑sponsored session near Didcot, Underhill and his teammates are keen to block out all distractions and concentrate simply on Wales.
“The only thing we can do is focus on the next game and put ourselves in as good a position as possible in the tournament. We can’t predict or influence what is going to happen with anyone other than ourselves.”
Wales have won just once at Twickenham in the Six Nations over the past decade but won the 2015 World Cup pool game between the sides and were slightly unfortunate to lose 12-6 against England in a tense encounter two years ago.
