DAN Lydiate expects to be battered and bruised tomorrow when Wales storm the Twickenham fortress to take on old enemy England - but he still expects Wales to emerge victorious.

The Newport Gwent Dragons blindside flanker is now a colossus in the Welsh team, coach Warren Gatland increasingly impressed by his prowess.

The 23-year-old 6ft 4ins, 17st 10lbs Dragons ace is now an established member of the side and will win his 12th cap tomorrow as Gatland retains the back row on duty in Wales’ last game against the Barbarians.

Lydiate is partnered by Dragons teammate Toby Faletau and Sam Warburton, who keeps the captaincy in place of the injured Matthew Rees.

Lydiate will be making his first visit to Twickenham and admits: “It’s going to be an awesome experience playing in front of a full house there, and it can’t get any bigger than this.

“It’s going to be extremely tough and I expect to be counting the bruises, but we can still win it. I’ve never been to Twickenham apart from going to the sevens there, it’s going to be a great experience.

“It’s going to be a really physical game and we can’t underestimate how hard it’s going to be, but we’ve got to match them. It’s going to be a hard day at the office, but we’ve done loads of fitness, now we need game time.

“I feel quite strong and I just want to play now, it’s the reward for doing all the hard training. It’s definitely the hardest pre-season I’ve done, but the whole team is looking forward to playing.

“Everyone has been going flat out, and we’ve got a lot of strength in depth now. It’s about taking the opportunhity that has been presented to us.

“Everyone is pushing for a place in the team and we know we’ve got to perform if we want to keep the jersey.

“England are a quality outfit from 1-15, they’ve got a powerful pack and their back row work together. We are only one bad game away from not being picked.”

Lydiate sings the praises of emerging 20-year-old Faletau alongside him at No8. “When he gets the ball no-one knows what he’s going to do, including himself!” he said.

“But he always gets over the gain line, he’s solid in defence, good in the line-out and has a strong allround game. It’s all coming together for him from the raw talent of12 months ago.”

The game, of course, takes place against a background of the looming World Cup, now just five weeks away with the final squads of 30 players to be named in the last week of this month.

And this is the first of three warm-up matches for Wales, including back-to-back games against England, the return at the Millennium Stadium a week tomorrow.

“This is the first game of the season for us and it’s really building up to the World Cup now,” said Lydiate. “Its going to be massive, everyone wants to perform and everyone wants to get picked for New Zealand.”

No pressure then as places on the plane can be won or lost at Twickenham tomorrow.