ENGLAND V WALES (Today KO 2.30)

HISTORY cannot repeat itself when Wales take on England at Twickenham today if World Cup hopes are not to nosedive at the first hurdle.

For the two previous warm-up matches between the rivals have ended in disaster for Wales as they have crashed to defeat on both occasions.

Back in 2003 a near second team represented England but they still thrashed Wales 43-9 for a record home defeat, and making it even more humiliating was the fact that the match was at the Millennium Stadium.

Four years later Wales travelled to Twickenham with an under-strength line-up and paid the penalty with a 62-5 hiding, their worst ever defeat at the hands of England.

Now the old enemies meet again in a similar fixture and with momentum counting for a great deal it would do wonders for Welsh morale if they could pull off a shock victory, while a fairly narrow defeat could even be interpreted as encouraging against the Six Nations champions.

Both sides go in with key players missing, Wales without James Hook, Lee Byrne, Leigh Halfpenny and Lions front row Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees, who would have captained the side, and Adam Jones, while England are without Ben Foden, Chris Ashton, Toby Flood, Ben Youngs, Nick Easter and Tom Wood.

But Wales coach Warren Gatland has at least avoided the mistake predecessor Gareth Jenkins made four years ago when he left a load of players out, and it was downhill all the way after that ending in a humiliating World Cup exit at the hands of Fiji and Jenkins’ dismissal.

Wales field a far stronger line-up this time, they are sure to be, at the very least, competitive and Gatland knows what it’s like to win at Twickenham.

For in his first game there in charge of Wales in 2008 they trailed 19-6 at one stage but hit back to win 26-19, their first triumph at HQ for 20 years, a victory which set up the Grand Slam as well.

Three-and-a-half years on the picture is nowhere near as rosy, Wales having finished fourth in the Six Nations table three years in a row and also endured a winless autumn series last year when they failed to even beat Fiji, ironically group opponents in New Zealand this autumn.

But the squad have been put through their paces this summer when they have been on two training camps in Poland, including visits to the dreaded ice chamber when it appears most of the players were screaming to be let out as the temperature plummeted.

Whether that has hardened them up sufficiently to take on and overcome the physical challenge England will provide today remains to be seen.

Gatland is pretty happy with his strength up front, though it has to be said a second choice front row of Paul James, Huw Bennett and Craig Mitchell could be vulnerable at such a daunting venue in front of an 82,000 sell-out crowd.

The second row partnership of Bradley Davies and Alun Wyn Jones is now well established and Gatland retains his young back row trio Sam Warburton, who leads the side in the absence of the injured Rees, Toby Faletau and Dan Lydiate.

It will be a huge test for Faletau, the 20-year-old Dragons No 8 earning rave reviews so far, but he will have to grow up very quickly against what could be a battering ram up front.

England have restored Jonny Wilkinson at outside half, his world points scoring record just overhauled by Dan Carter, while Manu Tuilagi will have to be closely watched.

It may be his debut but he looks a potent threat in the centre.

Matt Stevens is another player restored, though in his case from serving a two-year ban after taking cocaine. He is a lucky man to get another chance, but he was a real powerhouse at prop and could make life difficult for the Welsh front row, with hooker Dylan Hartley another feisty customer.

The same could be said of England captain Lewis Moody who will lead an eight determined to establish supremacy.

If they do it will be curtains for Wales who will have to show more adventure than in the past year or more.

Gatland angrily denies suggestions he is too conservative in his approach. But a Welsh midfield trio of Stephen Jones, who becomes the record Wales cap holder, Jon Davies and Jamie Roberts with Mike Phillips inside them appears to lack creativity all the same.

The Welsh attack looks pedestrian and with Byrne and Halfpenny missing a lot will rest on the shoulders of leading try scorer Shane Williams, though George North offers a different kind of threat on the other wing.

But it all adds up to another England triumph, though not by anything like the same margin as in 2007 and 2003.

Something similar and Welsh World Cup hopes will be buried once again.

More realistic is an England win by something in the region of a dozen points.