Wednesday 28 January 2015 14:02, UK
Warren Gatland has warned his Wales players not to be lured into complacency by England's injury crisis ahead of their Six Nations opener in Cardiff on Friday week.
Owen Farrell, Joe Launchbury, Ben Morgan and Manu Tuilagi are all expected to miss the tournament for England, while Brad Barritt, Kyle Eastmond, Geoff Parling and Tom Wood are struggling to make the clash at the Millennium Stadium.
"If you were England you'd be talking about the injuries and trying to talk Wales up," said Wales coach Gatland.
"We have to make sure we don't get distracted by that sort of chat, we have to concentrate on ourselves.
"It doesn't matter who they pick. We saw that last summer when they went to New Zealand and pushed the All Blacks really close in that first game.
You win that first game, you get a bit of confidence and momentum, and you can go on and win the championship.
"They then made a number of changes for that second and third Test."
England beat Wales 29-18 at Twickenham last year but lost 30-3 at the Millennium Stadium in 2013 as Wales secured the Six Nations title.
"It will be a tough game for both of us," said Gatland.
"We lost last year at Twickenham in a game we didn't play well in but still could have won and then a lot of people still talk about the experience of England losing at the Millennium Stadium two years ago. There's a lot of expectation from both teams.
“You win that first game, you get a bit of confidence and momentum, and you can go on and win the championship. You lose the first one and it's easy enough to go and finish at the other end of the table.
"Everyone is in contention. The expectation on Wales to win is high, and Ireland is exactly the same - they go in as favourites.
"There's a lot of pressure on England to do well and France haven't won since 2010. Scotland have a revival going under Vern Cotter and Italy have three homes game, too.
"So it's important to win games and get some confidence because in the back of our minds we're all thinking about the next six months and preparing for the World Cup."
