Wales head coach Steve Tandy eyes repeat of his Twickenham success

Steve Tandy wants to savour the “unbelievable experience” of winning at Allianz Stadium again as Wales bid to shock England in their Guinness Six Nations opener.

Wales are huge underdogs on Saturday having not won a Six Nations game since March 2023, while Steve Borthwick’s England have won 11 games in a row.

But Tandy has fond memories of Twickenham from his time as Scotland defence coach and being part of famous Six Nations victories in 2021 and 2023.

“Winning at Twickenham, at such an iconic stadium, is incredible,” said Wales head coach Tandy.

“It’s an unbelievable experience and the best thing is when you see what joy it brings to outside the dressing room as well.

“I can remember going back up (to Scotland) on the Monday, and Gregor (Townsend, head coach) had put messages up from people what it meant to the nation.

“The Six Nations as a whole is the biggest tournament in the world outside of the World Cup and we are fortunate to be a part of it.

“Going up to England I find it exciting. For our group I know intimidating and daunting are words which people will throw out which is understandable.

“But we have to be excited about how we can go and attack this game.”

Borthwick has predicted Wales will resort to a kicking game in London and that England could face upwards of 50 contestable kicks.

Tandy’s selection would seem to back up that claim of a kicking contest with Louis Rees-Zammit switched from wing to full-back.

It is only the fourth time in 36 Tests that Rees-Zammit starts at full-back, replacing the far smaller Blair Murray who wore the number 15 shirt in all four autumn Tests.

Tandy said: “Zammo only had a couple of games before the autumn and we got him back in at wing.

“He has played full-back before so it’s not something that was fundamentally new, but he has played there for Bristol and is getting fit.

“Zammo is threatening and if there is a kick that is too long then something can happen, as we have seen for Bristol.

“I am excited by his aerial work as well. As much as he is quick, he is a big man as well.”

Injury blow

Wales have been dealt one injury blow, although the bad news has come off the pitch in the shape of scrum coach Duncan Jones.

The former Wales prop damaged both knees after colliding with a player during a training session and will undergo surgery.

Tandy said: “It’s an absolute freak injury. It wasn’t even a high-impact injury. He’ll undertake an operation (on Friday) to get that fixed.

“I’m disappointed for Duncan, because I know how much it means to him to coach his country and be around the group.

“We feel the group have done their training week, but Danny (Wilson, forwards coach) has got experience of doing that (scrum coaching) and we’ll probably reassess after the weekend.”