DAVEY SAYS: The World Cup starts here

Win at HQ and Wales will be on the front foot, the whole picture will change after a disappointing year and with two games to come at the Millennium Stadium this month hopes will rise dramatically.

Wales could then set off for New Zealand on the final day of this month - and I'm following a few days later - full of optimism that they can take on the somewhat fallen giants of South Africa, the World Cup holders, with real hope after an almost unbroken run of defeats against the current holders.

But first things first and it's England on Saturday.

It's a phoney war, of course, and it's what counts Down Under in September that really counts rather than a trio of results this month.

But momentum is everything and two victories out of three, never mind an undreamt of hat-trick against England twice and Argentina would send morale rocketing ahead of the real business.

But a dip into previous pre-World Cup encounters doesn't make pleasant reading all the same. Previous Wales coaches have played it both ways, one picking barely a second choice side in an England rehearsal and the other going for a near full strength team, but each time the outcome was the same - a hefty defeat.

Four years ago Gareth Jenkins decided to field an experimental line-up for the visit to Twickenham and Wales came a real cropper, going down to an embarrassing 62-5 defeat. World Cup humiliation followed and Wales crashed out of the World Cup before the knock-out stages when they were beaten by Fiji - who they face in their group again this time.

They headed home from France with their tails between their legs and Jenkins had been sacked before the squad even boarded the plane.

Back in 2003 Steve Hansen decided to go in with an almost full strength side against England in August but Wales met with another decisive setback as they went down to a 43-9 defeat, and by a near reserve side at that.

At least some pride was restored in the World Cup in Australia when Wales made a real go of it especially against the All Blacks when they actually led at one stage with Shane Williams putting the after-burners on and they even headed England at half-time in the quarter-final before subsiding in the second half.

Current coach Warren Gatland is under some pressure already because results in the build-up over the past year haven't been exactly encouraging with a winless autumn series followed by a fourth place finish in the Six Nations.

And already there is a scare about skipper Matthew Rees who is believed to have a back problem, with a bulging disc feared which puts his Twickenham appearance in jeopardy and could even make him a World Cup doubt.

There remains a problem over the fitness of wing Leigh Halfpenny while others like winger Williams, props Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins plus a certain Gavin Henson have to prove their match fitness after lengthy spells on the sidelines.

Gatland will also be tempted to give a number of his young guns a run-out to see whether they are up to it in testing conditions - players like Ospreys flanker Justin Tipuric and Blues scrum half Lloyd Williams who have impressed him in the Polish training camps.

Others like Dragons No 8 Toby Faletau and teammate hooker Lloyd Burns plus Ospreys prop Ryan Bevington are all relatively untried at this level.

South Africa loom large in their first World Cup group game on September 11 and though they have lost both Tri Nations matches against Australia and New Zealand they will be a different prospect then.

Menacing Samoa follow, fresh from their shock win against Australia. But for the time being at least let's give Wales every chance. If it all goes pear-shaped the knives will be out soon enough!

SPORTSMANSHIP has won the day. And what a delightful change that has to be in these days of professionalism where money talks (as in the Grand Prix decision which I condemn in this column).

I'm talking about the decision by the Indian team to reinstate Ian Bell when technically he was out after a ball Eoin Morgan hit just failed to reach the boundary, he thought it had and walked off for the tea interval only to find himself run out, and correctly given out by the umpires. But a chorus of boos broke out around the ground because it was clearly ungentlemanly conduct and while some hard nosed commentators like Ian Botham and Nasser Hussain said they wouldn't have reversed the decision, well done to the Indians.

They were unhappy about the way Bell was dismissed and in a terrific act of sportsmanship decided to withdraw the appeal to have him run out.

And don't forget the Indians were under the cosh at the time, Bell already having passed his century, all of which makes Indian captain Dhoni's decision even more selfless and was great for the game especially after all the stick cricket has taken in the sub-continent.

Hussain repeats today he would have said to the batsman 'You messed up there, not us. Bad luck.'

That only diminishes him as a former England captain-turned-pundit.

THIS decision really is the pits – selling out the entire Grand Prix series to Sky with the BBC surrendering half of them and showing only some live.

The latest thriller in Hungary on Sunday when Jenson Button celebrated his 200th race by winning for the second time this year was another belter when he and his team outwitted series leader Sebastian Vettel and McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Yet from next year all the thrills and spills, all the drama will be shown live on Sky after a new deal was struck meaning the BBC will show only half the races live plus highlights of the rest which is hopeless.

Large sections of the population don't have Sky, they can't afford it on top of paying the BBC licence fee which means they won't be able to watch half the races as they happen.

The BBC say they need to save money. They could start by cutting out some of the junketing which goes on and by reducing by at least half some of the ridiculous salaries which are dished out.