England start looks short

The famous unpredictability of the Six Nations is an integral part of the fabric of the competition, but when putting together a betting strategy, ultimately we have to fall back on logic and logically, there can only be one winner of Saturday's massive Six Nations battle at Twickenham - and they don't wear white. 

These two sides may be coming together with two wins from two games each, but there can be no comparison between the style or indeed the merit of the wins in question. Wales put Scotland to the sword and came away from Dublin with a wonderful result, while England limped to narrow victories over Scotland and Italy, scoring a mere two tries, both by way of blocking a kick. Wales have been dealt a blow by the likely absence of Huw Bennett, but Matthew Rees seems ready to step in and he'll be well able to hold his own at this level so if he passes fit they shouldn't notice any real loss. More significantly, Sam Warburton should be available for selection and the rampaging back row forward is a huge addition and a potential man of the match in a high class fixture like this. 

Stuart Lancaster knows that winning rugby matches is the name of the game and nobody will mind in the slightest if his side comes through Saturday's battle in a similar fashion to how they edged out Scotland and Italy, but the level of defensive awareness and adeptness required to cope with a multi-faceted Welsh three quarter line that has been in rich try-scoring form is at an entirely different level to what's needed against Scotland and Italy. England need to keep the score down to have any realistic chance in this fixture and it's just too hard to see them doing this against so many different lines of attack.

The suggestion that Manu Tuilagi is being considered for selection shows just how difficult a situation Lancaster is in. He needs to be cognisant of the physical threat that Jamie Roberts poses in the centre, but he also has to bear in mind the balance and cohesion of his own backline. Already Chris Ashton and David Strettle get little or no chance to make an impact with the ball - changing the balance of the centre partnership could see them rendered utterly redundant. 

As with all events, the chosen betting approach is largely determined by the prices on offer from the various bookmaking firms and it's quite surprising that some have chosen handicaps as low as two in this game. Wales have a terrible record at Twickenham certainly, but it's still just a field of grass, and player for player the men in red look to have a massive advantage this weekend, enough to justify a six or seven point handicap really. Stan James offer even money about Wales minus two and that looks far too good to turn down, and probably far too good to even make it to the weekend. Bet accordingly.