Wales inspired by triumphs over England in Heineken Cup

Wales believe they have struck a psychological advantage over England ahead of next week's Six Nations opener at Twickenham after securing four victories in five Anglo-Welsh Heineken Cup encounters this month, including the quarter-final deciding clash between Ospreys and Leicester at the Liberty Stadium last Saturday. The Wales squad gathered at their base in the Vale of Glamorgan today, buoyant after a notable final two rounds of the Heineken Cup. Although, like England, they are providing only one quarter-finalists, away victories by the Scarlets and Cardiff Blues last weekend in France and England respectively earned them slots in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals. "It's the first time we have ever gone into a Six Nations campaign armed with three significant victories in the last round of the Heineken Cup," said the Wales attack coach, Robert Howley. "There is a feelgood factor and the players turned up this morning in a good place and enthusiastic, looking forward to what will be a huge campaign for us in the Six Nations and we know we have to improve after our displays in the autumn." Howley preferred to focus on how the results were positive for Wales rather than negative for England, who went into the group stage with seven clubs but emerged with only the last seeds, Northampton, in the quarter-final shakeup. "Ospreys beat a Leicester team which had a number of England squad members and our players will gain confidence and self-belief from that," said Howley. "The Scarlets this month achieved a double over London Irish and Cardiff Blues defeated Sale and Quins. The players can feel pleased with themselves but the intensity will be different in two weeks. The Heineken Cup is a good barometer of where players are even if England and Wales matches are about the 80 minutes, not what has gone on before." The veteran Wales second row, Ian Gough, who came on as a substitute for the Ospreys against Leicester, argued that the failure of the English clubs in the Heineken Cup would have an impact ahead of Twickenham. "It will affect their confidence a bit because they have always had a strong reputation at this stage of the Heineken Cup. "They will be very disappointed and Welsh sides have had some very good results against English clubs this month, but we have to be professional about the work we do over the next couple of weeks. They will have the same preparation time as us and it is about how we utilise that. It is a big time for England because they are under a lot of pressure. Results and performances have not gone their way, but it only takes a bit of a purple patch to get confidence back." Howley denied that there were any issues between Wales and the Sale scrum-half, Dwayne Peel, who was left out of the Six Nations squad, prompting the Sharks' director of rugby, Kingsley Jones, to ask whether the national management had an issue with the 28-year-old Lion, who is under pressure to return home when his contract at Edgeley Park runs out in May. "Dwayne, like Mike Phillips, was left out of the squad because he is injured," said Howley. "As soon as he is fit and playing well again, he will be back in. I explained that to him before the squad was announced and we felt it would be unfair on the three scrum-halves in the squad to have Dwayne and Mike around unable to train and looking over shoulders." Howley said he expected Jonny Wilkinson to continue at outside-half for England with Riki Flutey returning at inside-centre. "Jonny is world class, as I know having partnered him with the Lions," said Howley. "He is as mentally tough as any player, his kicking is second to none in the world game and he is an integral part of the England set-up. I know what Martin Johnson thinks of him and I have no doubt that Jonny will start against us and be a huge cog in England's campaign. "It is good to see Riki back and I am sure England will use him. I worked with him on last summer's Lions tour and he has great footwork, distribution skills and kicking ability. Lions tours always have an influence on the dynamics of players and coaches and this year will be no different."