Ben Foden relishing crunch clash with Wales

England opened their campaign with away wins against Scotland and Italy but a victory over Wales would send a message about what Stuart Lancaster's new-look team could be capable of.

Wales are in the same boat. Victory would clinch Warren Gatland's men the Triple Crown and put them in pole position for the Six Nations title.

"I'm sure there'll be a lot of hostility between the two sides. Being the crunch game it should make for an interesting spectacle," Foden said.

"We have massive belief we can do big things in
this competition ... we're confident we can go and win the title.

"To beat the favourites and be three from three would put us in a good situation - but the same can be said for them. It's a big, crunch game.

"Any team that can beat this Welsh side in this form puts down a massive marker. Wales must be considered one of the top three or four teams in the world.

"If you can beat them in this competition with so much at stake it'll give us the boost of confidence to really take it to the next teams we play.

"First and foremost we want to make Twickenham a fortress. They're going to have a difficult afternoon."

Foden is set to be one of just four survivors from the England starting XV that launched last year's title success with a 26-19 win at the Millennium Stadium.

England's interim coach Stuart Lancaster is expected to confirm Geoff Parling, Lee Dickson and Ben Morgan will make their first Test starts, when the team is announced later today.

Foden has spent the last 10 days stewing over the mistakes that helped Italy score two tries in quick succession at the Stadio Olimpico.

England hit back to win 19-15 but Foden is desperate to make amends, particularly for the intercepted pass which gifted Italy their second try.

"I didn't have my best game in Italy. It took quite a bit of time to get over it because I went home and watched the video," Foden said.
"Hopefully I can make up for that."

Twelve months ago, Foden intensified a war of words between the two camps by proclaiming in his match-day newspaper column: "We are England, we are the big country, we are going to put these guys in their place."

Foden kept his mouth shut on this occasion as England operate a charm offensive against the Welsh.

But he enjoys the hype and the banter - which is just as well because every time he logs on to Twitter there are more reminders about lies in store on Saturday.

"I'm obviously not their favourite person after last year's comments," Foden said.

"Have you been on my Twitter page? With social media nowadays it makes us that much more accessible and the Welsh make their views very forward and blunt.

"It's good that people can get very patriotic about it. The build-up to last year's game was brilliant. I loved all that."