Five reasons why Wales should not fear England in today's Six Nations showdown

EVERY time Wales meet England in rugby the odds should be stacked against them – a small nation against its enormous neighbour in contrast who have nearly five times as many registered players at 340,347 compared with 73,444.

It often does end though with David defeating Goliath as the English only just have the edge in victories over one of their fiercest rivals with 62 wins to 57, the amount of drawn games standing at 12.

Here we look at five modern day triumphs that ended in dramatic victory for Wales.

Although the bookies make them outsiders at 7/4 to win, there is no reason why Alun Wyn Jones’ side can’t break their four-year losing streak against Eddie Jones’ highly-fancied 4/7 side.

2015 – England 25 Wales 28

Gareth Davies dives over to score in Wales’ 28-25 victory at Twickenham in the 2015 World Cup clash

Wales’ last victory against the old enemy was truly one to savour. Not only was it accomplished in a death-defying backs against the wall rearguard action at Twickenham, it also contributed to England’s elimination at the groups stages of the World Cup they were hosting.

How the visitors won this one continues to puzzle. Warren Gatland’s men were comprehensively outplayed for huge tracts of this thrilling encounter but Chris Robshaw’s men just couldn’t put Wales away.

A place kicking masterclass by outside-half Dan Biggar, who scored 23 points, and a late stunning try scored by scrum-half Gareth Davies, set up by fellow No 9 Lloyd Williams on as a replacement, saw them squeeze home in late September 2015.

Wales were reduced to the walking wounded at one point after lost Scott Williams, Liam Williams and Hallam Amos were lost to nasty injuries.

To add to the drama, the hosts turned down a shot at goal at the death which could have given them a draw as they rolled the dice, went for broke and lost at a driving lineout.

Australia knocked England out a week later as poor coach Stuart Lancaster paid for failure with his job.

2013 – Wales 30 England 3

Alex Cuthbert evades Mike Brown's despairing dive to score one of his two tries in 2013

England came to Cardiff confident of securing a first Grand Slam since 2003 – the year they also won the World Cup.

A decade on, they looked on the cusp of big things in a season that had earlier seen them wallop the best team on the planet after they dished out a ferocious 38-21 beating to the All Blacks at Twickenham in the autumn.

Wales went into the game with a chance of winning the Six Nations if they could beat England by more than seven points.

What happened next was the stuff of dreams for the home fans. A first half of exceptional quality had seen Wales edge things 9-3.

In the second 40 minutes they ran riot and racked up a record win that didn’t appear to be on the cards after such an intense and competitive opening.

Wing Alex Cuthbert, who could do no wrong in those days, scored two fabulous tries and got the headlines but Ken Owens and Justin Tipuric played vital roles in both scores.

What many feared might be a cakewalk for England ended with Wales winning the Six Nations – the last time they did so.

2008 – England 19 Wales 26

Warren Gatland’s first game in charge also had the element of the fairytale about it.

Wales hadn’t won at Twickenham since 1988 when Margaret Thatcher was living at 10 Downing Street and Belinda Carlisle, Tiffany and Kylie Minogue dominated the British music charts. Dark days indeed!

At half-time his reign looked like starting with another Welsh car crash at Twickenham as they trailed 19-3 against a rampant England unlucky not to win the World Cup a few months earlier in France.

But a remarkable reversal of fortune saw Wales stack up 23 unanswered points after the break with Mike Phillips and Lee Byrne scoring two fine tries to set up a Grand Slam season.

After waiting three decades for a clean sweep in Europe, they went on to win two in three years.

2005 – Wales 11 England 9

Mathew Tait tackled by Gavin Henson in the 2005 win which paved the way for a first Grand Slam in 27 years

This will forever be known as the Gavin Henson match as the maverick centre came of age in a tense affair that helped set up Wales’ first Grand Slam since 1978.

The then Ospreys star put in a huge hit on his unfortunate opposite number Matthew Tait, the callow 18-year-old making his Test debut, before ‘Silver Boots’ stepped up to kick a monster penalty from 44 metres with four minutes left to seal victory for his side.

With characteristic understatement after the final whistle, the match-winning Henson told the press pack: “I knew I was going to kick it – I've been kicking them all week.” Of course you did Gav.

It was also Wales’ first win in Cardiff over England in 12 years after Ieuan Evans’ memorable try saw his team home in an equally nail-biting encounter that ended 10-9 in 1993.

1999 – Wales 32 England 31

Scott Gibbs sends the Welsh fans in Wembley wild in 1999 as his side edged a 32-31 thriller

There is a real knack of Welsh victories over England being remembered after a single hero has just one of those games or moments of their lives.

In 1967, there was the Keith Jarrett match, in 1970 it was Maesteg magician Ray ‘Chico’ Hopkins who quite beautifully hogged the limelight, there was the Gavin Henson game above in 2005 and the 2012 victory belonged to Scott Williams.

The 1999 epic, played at Wembley, just before the then-named Millennium Stadium opened its doors that summer in time for the World Cup hosted by Wales, had two heroes in outside-half Neil Jenkins and centre Scott Gibbs.

‘Jenks’ had kept his side in a match utterly dominated by England who were going for the Grand Slam and heavily backed to achieve a clean sweep in the last Five Nations before Italy joined the tournament.

The Wales No 10 had kicked penalty goals from all over the pitch to keep Graham Henry’s men in the hunt.

With seconds left, his troops trailed 31-25 before they won a lineout deep in England territory.

Newport’s very own Chris Wyatt won the crucial lineout before Gibbs ghosted through the opposition defence to score a try and send the crowd wild.

Many couldn’t watch the conversion still needed to win the game, but we all knew Jenks wouldn’t miss. Didn't we?