HERE we are again. The most awkward week of the year for me.

An Englishman- an ardent England rugby supporter at that - living in Wales - and with strong affections for Welsh rugby - with a Welsh family.

Ah, the arguments and the banter. All I have been hearing this week is "It's got to end sometime." Yes, Wales will win at Twickenham some time, but this weekend? Surely not.

Of course it is not beyond the realms of possibility, but I must admit that I have been surprised by the levels of optimism in Wales this week.

Warren Gatland is leading the way with some bullish talk and everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon. It has been quite fascinating to observe.

England have some problems, of that there can be no doubt.

For a start they do not have a scrum half to speak of.

And if you want too know the reason why, just look at the Guinness Premiership and how many foreigners regularly occupy the number nine jerseys at the moment.

England have fly halves coming out of every pore right now, but scrum halves? Seven out of the twelve clubs are using overseas players in that position and of the other five not many are exactly of international standard.

And Wales think they have problems because Mike Phillips only gets twenty minutes rugby off the bench for the Ospreys most weekends.

Sale's Richard Wigglesworth is in the England squad but he is nowhere near the required level.

It is no surprise that Dwayne Peel is on his way to Edgeley Park, where, if I may divulge for a moment, Welsh centre Lee Thomas was described last weekend by commentator Stuart Barnes as the most improved player in the Premiership this season.

Some praise and no doubt Thomas has been aided by the reassuring presence alongside of former All Black Luke McAlister - but, worryingly for the Magners League and the Welsh regional structure, another player requiring a trip over the border to advance his playing career.

What's the betting the same commentator - he did go to Bassaleg after all- is raving about Michael Owen at Saracens next season?

Anyway England have selected Andy Gomarsall at nine even though he could not make the Harlequins starting line up (on form) last weekend.

Their back row is nothing like they would want it to be, with Nick Easter and bright young flanker Tom Croft injured, Martin Corry retired and Tom Rees out of form.

It is a big ask of Gloucester's Luke Narraway to make his debut against a side who do not even number on their bench the player (Gareth Delve) who keeps him out of Gloucester's full strength side.

England's best forward at the World Cup, lock Simon Shaw, has only just - almost miraculously- recovered from injury.

Mathew Tait had been inked in at full back until he had an absolute shocker there at Leicester last weekend, hauled off by his Newcastle coach well before the end.

But yet, they still have nine players starting who appeared in the World Cup final not so long ago.

They have had so little training time together since that any grandiose plans of a more adventurous game plan will surely have been shelved for the time being.

They will come at Wales hard up front, just as they did to that horribly limp Wales side in the summer and as they did to all their opponents in France.

Jonny Wilkinson will kick a lot. It will be predictable. It will be boring. But it will be damn hard to stop.

Wales, of course, are very different in personnel from the summer, as well as from the disasters of the World Cup.

But it bemuses me how much Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley can have changed in so little time.

The selection of so many Ospreys has been clearly done so that Edwards can use his famed blitz defence, the Ospreys being the only one of the Welsh regions to employ it regularly.

That can only be why Sonny Parker has been surprisingly preferred to Tom Shanklin.

All these new coaches will bring their own high standards of mental toughness but how quickly can they be transferred to the team?

Not this quickly I can tell you. I don't expect it to be a rout up in London, but a narrow England victory nonetheless.

If it's not, well then I'll be keeping my head down for a while.

I can't let this column pass by without paying tribute to Australia's Adam Gilchrist, who announced his retirement from international cricket this week.

There are legends in sport and then there are real legends. Gilchrist belongs to the latter; a most exclusive class who are trend-setters in their game.

He changed the role of wicketkeeping forever.

Not solely through his glovework, which incidentally was not as good as his predecessor Ian Healy, but through a combination of that and his extraordinary batting.

Every wicketkeeper will be, and has been, compared to him since he announced himself on the international scene. It is some legacy.

He hasn't entirely finished yet, though.

There are some one-day internationals still to play for Australia and then the Indian Premier League.

That is some highly lucrative Twenty20 stuff. What chance then of a county snapping him up for this season's Twenty20?

Word has it that Glamorgan are planning to sign a big name solely for that competition.

How about Gilchrist? My mate Mark Wallace might not be too happy but surely both could play as Wallace is too good a batsman in that form to leave out.

It would be bold and expensive. But if Glamorgan want a big name, there's not much bigger at the moment.