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Hunting Wales England coach expecting tough test in Cardiff
LONDON (Reuters) -- England coach Clive Woodward believes his team's opening Six Nations championship clash with Wales next month will be tougher than the three tests against Australia, Argentina and South Africa at the end of last year. England, which makes its first visit to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on February 3, beat all three Southern Hemisphere sides at Twickenham in the European autumn. But Woodward said: "I believe this game will be tougher than any of the games we played in the autumn and that is why it is a great challenge to us. "It is a one-off game and that is how we are treating it. The Six Nations brings different challenges than these other one-off games and the whole history of the event -- of England playing Wales -- adds a lot to the whole game." He added: "It's a great fixture for us and we have to make sure that we can keep our momentum going. We have no illusions about how tough it is going to be." England has not played at the Millennium Stadium since it was built for the 1999 World Cup. But Woodward said he did not think that England's first visit would be a factor. "Playing at home is obviously an advantage but if we are going to be up there, which we want to be, you have got to win away from home," he said. "We have proved that with our wins in Bloemfontein (against South Africa) and Paris last year that we can win away. We do not have to be worried about the stadium. In fact it is the opposite, you have to look forward to it. "For the whole team it will be a wonderful occasion." Woodward said he had been advised that the much-criticized pitch at Cardiff was now "fantastic". "There is a brand new surface down which is brilliant and we are told that if it rains it will go straight through it," the former England international centre said. Contracts England captain Martin Johnson, who is serving a five-week ban for foul play which ends a day before the match, revealed there were still details to be sorted out in the players' contracts after the 24-hour strike called by the squad in November. "We were fighting for something we thought and know to be right," he said. "There are some details which need to be thrashed out and I am confident that will get done." Johnson would not elaborate on the details. Woodward added: "I am just keen, like everyone else, that the players and the RFU (English Rugby Football Union) get it sorted out."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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