Wales get added spur for Twickenham centenary

Wales have never lacked an incentive to defeat their larger, richer and often overbearing neighbours England.

But, just in case they needed an added spur, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) plan a pre-match spectacular before today's Six Nations championship clash at Twickenham guaranteed to stiffen the patriotic resolve of any Welsh player or supporter.

To celebrate the 100th birthday of the home of English rugby, more than 300 members of massed choirs will form a huge St George Cross. Backed by the Royal Artillery Band they will then sing the national anthem and Jerusalem.

"The centenary game is more than just a game of rugby and Twickenham is more than just a stadium," said RFU president John Owen.

"It will be a day rich with tradition."

For Welshman, the tradition has involved beating England as often as they have lost in a rivalry stretching back to the first fixture between the two nations at Richardson's Field in Blackheath in 1881.

England won that day and they also won the first international ever staged at Twickenham, on the site of a former market garden, on Jan. 15, 1910.

In the programme notes for the 50th centenary match Dai Gent recalled how his half-back partner Adrian Stoop had run the ball from the kick-off, leading to a try for England in the first minute.

England were not to lose a championship match at their new headquarters until 1926.

After these unpromising starts, Wales have levelled a series which now stands at 53 games apiece from 118 matches played over 128 years. Over the past century rugby union has become associated in the popular imagination with the chapel, the choir and the coal mines as part of Welsh culture, and defeating England remains as deeply satisfying as ever.

An often fraught historical relationship, dramatised by William Shakespeare in King Henry IV part one where the future King Henry V slays the hot-headed Welsh rebel Hotspur on the field of battle, has meant more on the rugby pitch to the Welsh than the English.

"They're physically bigger, socially superior and often formidably accomplished," wrote Welsh historian Dai Smith.

"And they live next door!"

Huw Richards, author of "The Red and the White," a history of the Wales-England Rugby Union rivalry, said the relationship with England had helped to form the Welsh national identity.

"Wales has one international border and that's with England," he said in a telephone interview.

"Wales has been incorporated as part of England. Rugby Union has become part of the national identity. Our national identity has been formed in part by beating England. Wales has put far more into rugby than England has."

Social and economic history has played an important role in the waxing and waning of Welsh rugby fortunes. Wales was particularly hard hit by the great depression of the 1930s and the recession of the 1980s, with many leading players defecting to professional Rugby League.

The glorious Welsh sides of the 1970s benefited from the upward social mobility of the times.

Three of their peerless backline - Gareth Edwards, his halfback partner Barry John and wing Gerald Davies - were miners' sons who trained as teachers and played with a confidence and brio derived in part from their new-found economic security.

Since Rugby Union went professional in 1995, much of the novelty and some of the colour has vanished from the fixture list.

South Africa and New Zealand, who ruled for most of the 20th century, used to meet for series at most twice a decade; now they play each other three times a year.

Every test match is closely scrutinised and analysed by opposing coaches, reducing the chances of unknown players or novel tactics startling the rugby world.

Outside World Cup years, though, England and Wales still meet only once a year. England have a far bigger playing base to select from than Wales and now, more than ever, the Welsh need all their native wit and ingenuity to outfox the old enemy,

"Wales put more emphasis on back play, more emphasis on deception," said Richards.

"On the whole, Welshmen tend to be smaller but not necessarily weaker than Englishmen. There's an appreciation in Wales of the little guy getting the better of the bigger ones."

Six Nations

Playing today: 15.30 Ireland vs Italy; 18.00 England vs Wales. Tomorrow: 16.00 Scotland vs France.

2009 final standings: Ireland (121-73)10; England (124-70), France (124-101), Wales (100-81) 6; Scotland (79-102) 2; Italy (49-170) 0.

Last 10 winners: 2009 Ireland; 2008 Wales; 2007 France; 2006 France; 2005 Wales; 2004 France; 2003 England; 2002 France; 2001 England; 2000 England.