Ollie Phillips: England will solve defensive holes to beat Wales
My prediction of an England Six Nations title is still on, just about. And I don’t see that being derailed this weekend against Wales.
Wales didn’t actually play that badly against Scotland but I just don’t think they’ve got it in them to pull off an upset at Twickenham.
When you look at their 23 it was obvious that some changes would be made and Tomos Williams starting is a really smart move for Warren Gatland’s men.
But the reality is this: England should be winning this game quite comfortably even though frailties were exposed last weekend.
Italy quite easily cut England open in Rome and that’s something that will worry Steve Borthwick and his coaching staff.
The Azzurri made it look a little but too easy at times in their Six Nations opener, but we will see exactly where they are when they travel to Dublin to take on Ireland.
I think we will see wins for Ireland and England but the third game, Scotland’s clash with France, is much harder to look at.
Scotland are playing some of their best stuff at the moment but we saw in the World Cup how they can sometimes fail in the big games.
But they looked good last weekend, albeit it for 40 minutes, and welcoming the French to Murrayfield should be the kick up the backside they need.
One of their major issues, however, is the fact that they are going to be playing an opposition outfit who are fired up after their loss to Ireland.
It wasn’t the France we have become accustomed to so I am sure there will be some fight back from Fabien Galthie’s side.
This weekend is one of movers and shakers. Some teams could go two from two, others could go none from two.
And, if Italy beat Ireland, we could end the round with everyone on level terms. How exciting.
Former England Sevens Captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of , experts in leadership development behavioural change and executive coaching support. Follow Ollie on Twitter and on LinkedIn @OlliePhillips11