All Things Welsh Rugby

It's Friday night in Cardiff, and I can feel anticipation building in the air. The whole country is itching for Sunday, bubbling away with the hope of a repeat of last year...

Will the national team reach such monstrous heights this time around? 

We can all cross our fingers, but I sense a much closer affair is on the near horizon. This England team are much improved - their joints are oiled, mechanics in full swing and they have polished and refined their act just in time for the main attraction. 

Injuries in the forwards may hamper them, but they have certain weapons at their disposal in the backs that could make even the strongest of Welsh hearts flutter - Brown, May, Burrell...

The Welsh forwards, on the other hand, are on a roll. Lydiate is back to his defensive best, chopping at the legs and ankles of oncoming attackers. Warburton is back to his old scavenging ways, snapping up loose ball at ruck time. Faletau works himself into the ground, an unsung hero, the knot that ties the forwards to the backs. Hibbard... well, we'll probably hear the impact he makes come match day. 

So much is riding on this. The two sides only face each other twice before the big one in 2015, the World Cup. This is the one we've all been waiting for, let's be honest. 

Good luck to the Wales U20 team tonight, who are chasing what would be a first Grand Slam in their history! Come on Wales!

After the last round of Six Nations fixtures, Wales have leap-frogged France to move up to 5th in the IRB World Rankings. Let's hope they keep moving up! 

Wales vs. Scotland  - 09/03/2013 (k.o. 14:30 GMT)

Murrayfield. Live on BBC 1, HD & Online

Wales: P James, R Hibbard, A Jones, A-W Jones, I Evans, R Jones (C), T Faletau, S Warburton; M Phillips, D Biggar, G North, J Roberts, J Davies, A Cuthbert, L Halfpenny

Bench: Owens, Andrews, Bevington, Coombs, Tipuric, L Williams, Hook, S Williams

Scotland: R Grant, R Ford, E Murray, R Gray, J Hamilton, R Harley, K Brown, J Beattie; G Laidlaw, D Weir, T Visser, M Scott, S Lamont, S Maitland, S Hogg