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Will Greenwood sees a more settled Wales outfit giving an experimental England side a rough ride in Cardiff

There are two ways of looking at last weekend's win over Wales.

The glass half full guys will say it's the first game of the season and it was a good run-out for the boys.

The glass half empty guys will say we looked like a bunch of athletes, but that there is a lot of work to do on the rugby front.

Nevertheless last week was a powerful display from England, though we clearly tired later on when the extra training took its toll. Later on, once all the substitutes came on, some of the rhythm came out of the game and it was by no means perfect. And, as we all saw, when it became slightly looser Wales got right back in it.

But there were plenty of positives for Martin Johnson, chief among them being the play of Jonny Wilkinson.

Jonny played the corners well, kicked two drop goals when nothing else was on and attacked the line with stunning effectiveness, doing the simple things well throughout.

James Haskell was another positive. He covered every blade of grass at Twickenham - that man is a serious athlete - but he still managed one or two daft moments.

Elsewhere, the lineout was good and we were aggressive. However, we still don't look like the complete package, and - just sometimes - it had that 'painting-by-numbers' feel.

And that pattern will probably continue this weekend, given the amount of changes Martin has made with 13 new names for the return fixture. It really is a side I did not expect to see with no room for Mouritz Botha, Chris Robshaw, Charlie Sharples or Ugo Monye to name just four. Like many others, I thought more of the fringe players of the 40 man squad might get an opportunity at the Millennium Stadium.

I think that lack of continuity will not favour England, who meet a more settled Wales outfit on their turf in front of 70,000 Welsh fans. In fact, I think Wales will edge this by a couple of points. And that would be my first bet of this week after two winning tips last time out - Wales to win by less than 12.5 points. This will be as tight as it gets and if you were just looking for a fun bet you might want to chuck a few quid at the draw, even the minimum stake will reward if that one comes in at around 25.0 on Betfair!

A number of the Wales boys impressed me last week and I particularly liked Rhys Priestland, who was due to play at full back but was switched to fly half with just five minutes notice at Twickenham after Stephen Jones pulled out. Sam Warburton was world-class, too.

And it's the presence of those two plus the returning Gavin Henson that makes a back of Wales to open the scoring with a try my second bet.


Recommended Bets

Wales to win by under 12.5 pts @ 3.3
Back Wales try in First Scoring Play market @ 4.5


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