WARREN Gatland is up for Twicken-ham, Shaun Edwards is ready for Twickenham, but will the Welsh team be up to it on Saturday?

That is the million dollar question. But on the basis of what we have seen in the past week you would have to say they will be.

For there is absolutely no doubt Gatland and Edwards are the best thing to hit Welsh rugby for a long time. If they could get out on to the hallowed turf on Saturday there would be only one outcome.

For they are both winners and they are bringing that winning mentality to Wales. Twickenham holds absolutely no fears for this dynamic pair of warriors who are already preparing for what they call a bloodbath and won't mind even turning it into one.

While the pair were in harness together for top English team Wasps they won many big games at Twickenham, three Premiership titles and the Heineken Cup.

It is precisely that winning attitude the pair will instil into the Welsh team this week. Already Edwards has addressed the Welsh squad by telling them that every tackle they miss he will miss, if they make an error in their system he makes the same error.

Some might say that could initiate a fear of making mistakes into the Welsh players but, on the contrary, I'm sure it will draw them all a lot closer and bring about an icy determination not to let their coaches down.

For, make no mistake, things are going to improve for Wales. I'm not saying they are suddenly going to end their 20-year spell without success at Twicken-ham, though they could, but they will definitely improve considerably on their fifth place finish in the Six Nations Championship in the two years since they won the Grand Slam.

Gatland and Edwards will not suffer fools gladly, there will be no prima donnas and, above all, that over-used,over-hyped player power menace that has been lurking in the background will be cast to the rubbish bin.

Menacing is an appropriate word, too, for Gatland exuded it at the Six Nations launch in London last Wednesday while Edwards was all of that and more when he addressed the media for the first time the day before.

They both know what they want and they will make sure the Welsh team bust a gut to get it.

While Gatland was firm, outspoken and even talked England down at the launch last week, his counterpart Brian Ashton looked, to be honest, rather frail in comparison.

Wales may have flopped in the World Cup while England swept into the final. So how can fortunes have changed so markedly in such a short space of time?

For Wales because of all the above really. It comes down to two men - Gatland and Edwards. They have transformed the picture and WRU group chief executive Roger Lewis wasn't slow at the Six Nations launch in attacking me for attacking him in last week's column while stressing he was the one who brought the pair to Wales.

It could be the best work he has ever done or ever will. But it's not just the way Welsh mindset has been turned around which explains such a different outlook, it's also the way England have taken a turn for the worse.

For starters they have lost four players to retirement - Lawrence Dallaglio, Martin Corry, Jason Robinson and Mike Catt - with 275 caps between them.

And they have hit by injuries and illness scares affecting Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley, Lewis Moody, Paul Sackey and Jonny Wilkinson again.

They can still field a formidable pack with Steve Borthwick able to step in for Shaw and they have some talented backs in Matthew Tait, Toby Flood and Sackey while the mighty Lesley Vainikolo looks all set to be launched at Wales.

But they have a huge weakness at scrum half in the continuing absence of Harry Ellis and there is suddenly an air of vulnerability about them. Gatland and Edwards are lying in wait!

What of the rest of the Six Nations? Though TV moguls are doing their best to wreck the best competition in the world with a 9pm kick off on a Friday in France next year, it will have attracted more than a million fans paying 60 times that amount to watch it by mid-March.

The Irish are still struggling from their World Cup heartache, and they have the same men in charge. Verdict? More problems.

New French coach Marc Lievremont has drafted in six new caps to his squad and thrown out Sebastien Chabal, Imanol Harinordoquy, Clement Poitrenaud, Yannick Nyanga and Pierre Mignoni while Fabien Pelous, Serge Betson, Raphael Ibanez and Christophe Dominici have all retired and Yannick Jauzion, Pieter Villiers and Sylvain Marconnet are all injured. Verdict? A period of transition.

Scotland continue to suffer from a lack of real quality while half-a-dozen key players are playing in England and France. Verdict? Another struggle.

Italy have acquired one of the best coaches in Nick Mallett, again a delight to listen to at the Six Nations launch. Sergio Parisse could be a talismanic new captain but they, like the Scots, don't have a strong enough player base. Verdict? Down among the also rans again.

Wales? Expect a dramatic improvement. England? Could fall off their perch.