The first game of the Six Nations has arrived and the northern hemisphere's premier rugby tournament takes on extra significance in a Rugby World Cup year. This week players from UAE's Xodus Wasps and Abu Dhabi Saracens preview England and Wales' chances ahead of their opening clash.
At 20:05 GMT on Friday (00:05 GST Saturday) in Cardiff there will be an atmosphere charged with excitement, passion and revenge as Wales host England in the opening match of the 2015 Six Nations.
The Welsh capital is a notoriously hostile, yet electric environment for any team to visit, let alone a group of players that were thrashed 30-3 in a Six Nations decider on their last visit.
England travel to Wales with an injury-ravaged side to take on a team brimming with confidence after their Autumn victory over South Africa.
Wales boss Warren Gatland, never shy of the odd mind-game, named his XV several days ago in an attempt to unsettle an English side with new combinations at second-row and centre following an arduous last few months in the Aviva Premiership.
However, England coach Stuart Lancaster will not mind playing the role of underdog on this occasion as his ‘replacement’ players come in the form of Test veteran Nick Easter, two-time British and Irish Lion Tom Croft and the mercurial, if inconsistent, Danny Cipriani. There should not be too many deers caught in the bright red lights of the Millennium Stadium.
True to tradition Wales have offered the opposition coach the choice of whether the Millennium roof is closed or not and perhaps in a mind game of his own, Lancaster has chosen to keep his cards close to his chest until the last minute.
The men in red will hope that the roof remains closed in order to lock-in the sounds, smells and passion of their partisan crowd and ensure the ball is dry for their stellar back line to fire.
The weather is set to be cold and dry and for that reason, Lancaster will probably choose to keep the lid off of the pressure-cooker in an attempt to nullify the crowd.
Lancaster appears to have released the shackles of his conservative selection policy, which drew such criticism in the Autumn, by including Sale Sharks playmaker Cipriani and Bath’s Jonathan Joseph.
Both men possess sublime skills, electric pace and the ability to create something from nothing. They have that ‘X’ factor that turns good teams into world beaters.
However both players also have a well-documented tendency to self-implode, with their defensive capabilities certain to come under intense scrutiny from Welsh juggernauts Jamie Roberts, George North and Alex Cuthbert.
England scrum coach Graham Rowntree worked under Gatland during the 2013 Lions Tour and the two men will most certainly be feeding information on their former colleague’s methods in a bid to gain an early advantage.
Gatland will tell his charges to expect a forward onslaught from England as that is where Rowntree has managed to dominate most of England’s opposition in this area. Meanwhile, Rowntree will be keen to point out that they will face a fired up Wales team, charged by their evocative coach.
Both teams will be quietly confident of winning the Six Nations and will do everything in their power to ensure that their fate lies in their own hands; a loss in the first game for any side will mean relying on another team to do you a favour in order to win the competition.
In what will be a clash of playing styles between the teams the only guarantee in this match is that there will be a huge amount of physicality, a shed-load of points and passion by the bucket-load.
Momentum is everything in the Six Nations and on Friday there will be two teams and sets of supporters who will fight for bragging-rights before their Group A World Cup clash in six months' time.
