ENGLAND and Lions rugby legend Fran Cotton has questioned Wales' mental toughness and their ability to make the right decisions in the "heat of battle".

Although he expects Saturday's Twickenham showdown to be close, he urges Wales to learn from the "appalling" tactics and choices they made during the Fiji debacle in the World Cup.

And the former Sale prop, pictured, said the key decision-makers for the Ospreys and Cardiff Blues in their European successes so far this season have all been New Zealanders.

Cotton, manager of the victorious 1997 Lions in South Africa, said: "My only worry for Wales is that for the two regions who have performed excellently in the Heineken Cup, the most important decision-makers have been New Zealanders "The outstanding players for the Ospreys have been Justin Marshall, Filo Tia Tia and Marty Holah, while Ben Blair and Xavier Rush have shone for the Blues."

Referring to Wales' 38-34 defeat to Fiji, he said: "Their decision-making was quite appalling in a game they really should have won.

"It's easy to blame Gareth Jenkins but that wasn't the coach's fault, it was the players on the field who had to take responsibility.

"Wales have got a lot of good players, but have they been used to making the right decisions in the heat of battle?"

Cotton, who won 31 caps for England and packed down in the front row with Pontypool legend Bobby Windsor during the Lions' triumphant 1974 Test series win in South Africa, still thinks Wales could push Brian Ashton's men all the way.

He said: "I expect England to win a tight game but I hope to see a rejuvenated Wales who won't be overawed.

"England are obviously favourites but it's going to be closer than people imagine.

"And I'm delighted to see Martyn Williams back who, I think, is the outstanding openside flanker in Europe."

Cotton was only on the winning side once against Wales during his international career between 1971 and 1981.

That solitary victory was achieved during the infamous 1980 match when Welsh flanker Paul Ringer was sent off after 14 minutes, England going on to win the Grand Slam after they winning a ferocious battle 9-8.

He said: "England versus Wales is the fixture as far as I'm concerned. I never won in Cardiff because I was up against some of the most fantastic Welsh teams ever containing seven or eight world class players.

"That game in 1980 was built up so much in the media because I think for the first time we were a serious threat to Wales.

"A lot of things were said in the press which weren't really correct - there was a lot of mischief which stoked things up."

He said: "It was turned into an almost personal confrontation between Graham Price and I.

"I was quoted as saying that he was a cheat and collapsed the scrums a lot but I never said those things.

"There were a lot of ugly incidents that day and unfortunately Paul just caught Johnny Horton and the referee thought "enough is enough".

"Paul didn't deserve to go for that one incident but he went because of it came as the culmination of other things.

"After that Wales were almost inspired and were probably the better team - thank God we had Dusty Hare to kick the winning penalty at the death."

England's World Cup winning scrum-half Matt Dawson said this week Warren Gatland's second-in-command Shaun Edwards was "possibly the best coach in world rugby", adding that the RFU's failure to find him a position was a "crime".

Cotton believes their decision to keep the faith with Brian Ashton was right and he thinks England will one day reap the benefits of Edwards' experiences with Wales.

"I think England were right to stick with Brain, I know him very well and he's a very good coach," he said.

"Shaun Edwards is continuing to learn his trade with someone else and I'm sure will come back to England as an outstanding coach."