Stuart Barnes told The Rugby Club it will be a 'stunning result' if new-look England beat Wales.
Farrell and debutants have their work cut out, says Barnes
England's inexperienced line-up will pull off a 'stunning' achievement if they beat Wales on Saturday, according to Stuart Barnes.
Wales have only won once at Twickenham in 23 years but are red-hot favourites to win the Triple Crown showdown against the new-look hosts.
Number eight Ben Morgan, scrum-half Lee Dickson and lock Geoff Parling will all make their first Test starts for England in the match, while Saracens' Owen Farrell switches to No 10.
And Barnes told
The Rugby Club that with that line-up England go into the match as clear under-dogs.
"You can almost throw tradition out the window; what you've got to look at is what is happening at the moment," the former England international said.
"Wales are playing as well as they have done since they won the Grand Slam; they are arguably a better team than the last Welsh team to win a Grand Slam.
"England have got two wins but they have beaten Scotland and Italy away who are the division two of the Six Nations. If you forget about results and you look at performance then Wales are undoubtedly the team to beat.
"When you think that England have got someone who has never started at eight, someone who has never started at nine and someone who has never started at 10 - that is the solar plexus of an international team.
"For England to win with that much inexperience would be a stunning result for them."
Best
England's interim coach Stuart Lancaster resisted the temptation to play Toby Flood at fly-half and instead opted for Farrell - a decision Dewi Morris fully agrees with.
"I want to have a look at the guy," he said. "You've got to pick your best kicker, which Farrell is; you've got to pick your best defender, which [Brad] Barritt has shown out to be and you've got to pick your best offence player, which is Manu Tuilagi. He had to come back in - we had to have some cutting edge.
"So I'm delighted to have a look at these guys. Whether they perform as a unit will probably come down to the other guy that is in there - Parling. He's into the lineout, which has been dominated by Leicester guys throughout the years - the Kays, the Deacons, the Johnsons. Get off-the-top ball into the fly-half's hands and get over the gain line."
Hammered
Barnes agreed that Leicester second row Parling has a key role to play in England's offensive plans.
"This Geoff Parling selection and the whole culture of how England approach this game is fascinating," he said.
"They've been winning line-outs but 80 per cent of the line-outs they've won have been at the front of the line-out; that stops you playing anything aggressive behind and I don't think England have a pack to win the game purely by taking it to Wales in the tight.
"What Parling can give them is the ability to win line-out at the front, middle and the back. If Farrell is going to get on the gain-line, you don't want him on the gain-line if you are taking ball at the front, driving and sucking because Sam Warburton and company are going to be saying 'do you really want to come here?'
"With ball off the top, Farrell can get there and that gives you a chance to get Manu Tuilangi involved. If England play slow ball at set-piece and breakdown and they try to go wide I think they walk into the power of the Welsh defence and I think they will be hammered if this game breaks up."
