Gatland confident Wales can beat rebuilding England at Twickenham
Wales head coach Warren Gatland has insisted his side will travel to London with confidence as they take on England in the Six Nations on Saturday.
Wales nearly came back from 27-0 down against Scotland but lost 27-26 in their opening match of the tournament.
“England are in a rebuilding phase,” Gatland said. “We will go there with a lot of confidence we can build on that second half.
“This is a massive game, not only because of the history and what it means to everyone in Wales, but it is an opportunity to get things on track a bit more.
“We have been critical and tough on ourselves this week.
“That first half was nowhere near the standards we expect. We simply cannot start the same way this Saturday.
“We showed in the second half against Scotland what we are capable of. Now, it is about building on that performance and playing with some tempo from the off.
“We’ve made a few changes to the starting line-up this weekend, which gives opportunities to the players coming in. We need to be accurate and keep our discipline.”
Gatland has made seven changes from the side that lost last week for their match against England, who beat a stubborn Italy in the opening round.
George North returns to the side to partner Nick Tompkins in the midfield.
Ioan Lloyd and Tomos Williams will make up a new-look No9-No10 partnership.
Uncapped Bath prop Archie Griffin has been named among the replacements with Racing 92 lock Will Rowlands, while Alex Mann has been promoted to the bench.