England vs Wales Prediction and Betting Tips: England can add to Welsh woes

After edging out Italy in Rome last weekend, England are back to the home comforts of Twickenham as they host old rivals Wales in Round 2 of the 2024 Six Nations.

Wales produced a Jekyll and Hyde performance in their 27-26 loss to Scotland on the opening weekend and head coach Warren Gatland will be determined to build on the positives for this clash in London.

It’s set to be another fierce battle between these two old rivals but, with home advantage and a more settled side, England have the opportunity to add to Welsh woes this weekend.

Team news

England head coach Steve Borthwick has named an unchanged starting XV from the side that beat the Italians 27-24 at the Stadio Olimpico. The bench is almost unchanged, with Ellis Genge’s return to fitness meaning Beno Obano drops out of the matchday 23.

As for Wales, Gatland announced his squad a day earlier than expected and made seven changes from his starting lineup against the Scots. British & Irish Lions star George North returns from injury to start at outside centre, while Ioan Lloyd and Tomos Williams are the halfback pairing from the off.

It’s a new-look front-row with Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee and Keiron Assiratti getting a start, while flanker Alex Mann is set for his first Test start for his country.

Lineups

England XV: Steward; Freeman, Slade, Dingwall, Daly; Ford, Mitchell; Marler, George (capt), Stuart, Itoje, Chessum, Roots, Underhill, Earl.

Replacements: Dan, Genge, Cole, Coles, Cunningham-South, Care, F Smith, Feyi-Waboso

Wales XV: Winnett; Dyer, North, Tompkins, Adams; Lloyd, Williams; G Thomas, Dee, Assiratti, Jenkins (capt), Beard, Mann, Reffell, Wainwright.

Replacements: Elias, Domachowski, Griffin, Rowlands, Basham, Hardy, Evans, Grady.

Wales’ defeat to Scotland last week showed the best and worst of what this new-look squad are capable of.

Gatland will be hoping the significant changes to his starting lineup will give Wales a better start at Twickenham, as they can’t afford such a poor 40 minutes as they produced against the Scots.

England will look to learn from Scotland’s lack of discipline in the second half, which saw Gregor Townsend’s side down to 14 men for a quarter of the match.

The Red Rose will look to come out of the blocks quickly and try to impose their game on a young Welsh side.

Should England start to build up a score, don’t expect them to allow Wales back into this one as Scotland did.

England might have fresh faces in the side but the fact this is the first time England have named an unchanged XV since the 2019 World Cup final says something.

Borthwick has faith in his selections and this England side have the ability to fall on the right side of a -13 handicap, against a Welsh team that conceded 27 points against the Scots before they got going.

Northampton Saints scrum-half Alex Mitchell is enjoying a fine season at Franklin’s Gardens and he produced a strong tryscoring performance in Rome last weekend.

With the ability to not only spot space but exploit it too, the Saints halfback is likely to cause the Welsh defence problems around the breakdown.

Fellow Northampton stars Tommy Freeman and Fraser Dingwall also start in the backline and Mitchell will know just how those players attack and where the best support lines will be.

Having scored six tries for Saints and one try already in this Six Nations, Mitchell looks capable of adding to his tally this weekend against the Welsh.