Wales were on Monday night finalising their Six Nations side to face England at Twickenham on Saturday. What would ordinarily have been a short conversation following the bonus‑point victory against Scotland was complicated by the return to fitness of two of their injured British & Irish Lions outside backs, Liam Williams and George North.
North made a try-scoring return for Northampton against Harlequins in the Anglo-Welsh Cup on Friday, the wing’s first start since October, while Williams, who has not played since sustaining an abdominal strain playing for Saracens at Ospreys last month, resumed training this week.
Wales have not won at Twickenham in the Six Nations since 2012, the last time England were defeated at home in the tournament since when all 14 games have been won, although the Welsh were victorious there in the 2015 World Cup.
Six Nations: talking points from the opening weekend
A common denominator in those two wins is the centre Scott Williams. He started at 13 in the World Cup, as he is set to do on Saturday after a commanding display against Scotland, having come off the bench six years ago to score what proved to be the winning try in the 19-12 victory. He did not feature in the 2014 and 2016 Six Nations defeats at Twickenham.
“Another one of those memories would be nice,” Williams said. “It is a long time ago, too long. It is going to be a different challenge from Scotland but we have won there before and it is definitely do-able. We know it is going to be a step up: we will not get as many chances so we need to make sure we take them.
“It was a good way to start the tournament. We showed glimpses of some really good stuff but we left a couple of tries out there if we are being harsh.
“I am fortunate enough to have played in this competition a few times and know how important the first game is in giving you something to build on. I said in the autumn we were changing the way we play but it does not happen overnight. It is starting to pay off now.”
Wales are waiting to see whether the second-row Cory Hill will be fit. He left the field after 55 minutes on Saturday for a head injury assessment and did not return.
Wales and Leigh Halfpenny rip apart Scotland’s Six Nations ambitions
Ireland’s Van der Flier ruled out for season
The Ireland flanker Josh van der Flier will miss the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.
The Leinster back-row hobbled out of Saturday’s 15-13 Six Nations win against France in Paris and the Irish Rugby Football Union announced on Monday that he has now been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign.
Van der Flier had held off the charge of in-form Leinster team-mate Dan Leavy to take the No 7 shirt at the Stade de France, and had started well before injury struck.
Ireland are already hoping that the British and Irish Lions flanker Sean O’Brien can recover from a hip injury to feature at some point in the Six Nations, so Joe Schmidt’s men can do without further hindrance in their back-row stocks.
Van der Flier’s injury also represents a significant blow to Leinster, who must do without the 24-year-old for the rest of a highly-promising season, with a Champions Cup quarter-final against Saracens in April.
Ireland appear to have emerged otherwise unscathed from their gruelling, last-gasp win in Paris, where Johnny Sexton dropped an overtime goal to snatch victory.
The fit-again Munster prop Dave Kilcoyne has returned to the squad to boost the front-row options, but Andrew Conway remains sidelined with a knee concern of his own.
Ireland will host Italy at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, in the former Ireland full-back Conor O’Shea’s first Dublin encounter as Azzurri head coach.