Wounded Wales still a huge threat, warns England coach Andy Farrell

If England are partying hard as a result of the World Cup injury jinx affecting their group rivals Wales – the enemy from the far side of the River Severn confirmed that their leading scrum-half Rhys Webb would miss the tournament for orthopaedic reasons, as well as the stellar full-back Leigh Halfpenny – they are not making the mistake of doing it in public. Instead, they are trying their best to appear gloomy.

Andy Farrell, the red-rose backs coach who worked with Halfpenny on the successful British & Irish Lions tour of Australia in 2013, stopped some way short of suggesting that Wales would not miss him, in particular. “Leigh is an unbelievable professional: his attention to detail is second to none, he puts pressure on himself to perform at the highest level every single week and he’s as good a goal-kicker as there is in the sport, without a doubt,” Farrell said, glowingly.

But – and there was definitely a “but” – Farrell went on to argue that the hot favourite to wear the Wales No 15 shirt in the games that matter, Liam Williams of the Llanelli-based Scarlets, had the potential to ask a whole series of very different questions as an attacking force. He also said Dan Biggar, the Ospreys outside-half, had enough going for him in the marksmanship department to compensate for Halfpenny’s absence.

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“Biggar is a very good kicker – a long-range kicker,” the coach said. “We’ve all seen it at first hand. He’s confident in taking shots from anywhere, so Wales have a pretty good replacement there.

“As for Williams, I think the team structures will stay the same and I expect him to fit into their effective defensive system. But he’s also a tricky character, quite strong for his size, wiry and evasive. Different personalities bring different things when it comes down to the one-on-one threats.”

Farrell found himself in close cahoots with a number of experienced Welsh players on that Lions jaunt around Wallaby country, including the fire-and-brimstone scrum-half Mike Phillips, who, along with the rather less familiar wing Eli Walker, was called into the Red Dragon squad yesterday. In keeping with the general tenor, the coach’s take on Phillips’ reinstatement at international level was cautious in the extreme.

“He’s not a bad replacement for Webb, is he? Especially as he’ll feel he has a point to prove,” Farrell commented. “I’ve no doubt that he knew he was the next cab on the rank – that he’s been training behind closed doors and keeping himself fit. Knowing his character, he’ll see this as an opportunity to show what he’s about. He’ll be in a good place, I’m sure.”

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The word on the street down Cardiff way was that Phillips, along with the Lions Test hooker Richard Hibbard, missed the original cut because they were off the pace on the conditioning front. Certainly, the scrum-half looked a good distance short of a gallop in his country’s opening warm-up game against Ireland at the Millennium Stadium (which, in what the Welsh Rugby Union described as a “historic” development, will soon be known as the Principality Stadium, in return for bucketloads of building society money. History has clearly changed in the centuries since Herodotus).

But the man from Carmarthen is nothing if not a competitor, and Farrell suspects that the traumatic events of the last few days will help Warren Gatland, the Wales coach, bring out his team’s fiery side. “They’re not down,” he said. “They have a couple of people coming in looking to grab the chance with both hands and Warren will probably use the situation to create a ‘backs against the wall’ mentality, to strengthen and galvanise the squad. People will say what’s happened weakens them a little, but I don’t see it.”

England, largely injury-free since losing the likes of the Northampton full-back Ben Foden, the Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson and the Leicester flanker Tom Croft during the last domestic campaign, meet Wales at Twickenham a fortnight on Saturday. “It’s our home, our fortress and we want to make it really hard for teams to play there,” Farrell said. The thought that Halfpenny will not be around to kick goals from everywhere should help the process along, no matter what the coach may say to the contrary.