England have no fear despite pitiful record in Wales says George Ford

England will travel to Cardiff to face Wales with no fear, despite the Red Rose's pitiful history when crossing the Severn Bridge.

Eddie Jones' men have won less than 35% of the 61 matches played between the pair and must improve on that run against the early Six Nations Championship leaders, if they are to defend their title and claim consecutive grand slams for the first time in a generation.

Twenty-four hours after stumbling past France at Twickenham thanks to Ben Te'o's late try, Wales defied pre-tournament predictions by staging a second-half comeback to beat Italy in Rome.

George North scored twice either side of Liam Williams' effort to give Alun Wyn Jones the perfect star to his permanent spell as captain.

Despite having won on their last visit to the newly named Principality Stadium [formally the Millennium Stadium] in February 2015, England have lost on five of their last seven visits to Wales.

The last reverse came on the final weekend four years ago when a title and grand slam-chasing side led by Stuart Lancaster were thrashed 30-3, a margin of victory which was good enough for the Wales team coached by Warren Gatland to snatch away the silverware.

Fly-half George Ford was part of the England side which prevailed on their last trip to the Welsh capital, and is therefore well aware of the cacophony noise which awaits the defending champions.

"Wales at home are a different beast with that crowd behind them at the Millennium Stadium," the Bath half-back admitted.

"They're a very emotional team when they're playing at home so you've got to take all that into consideration. We've got to put ourselves in the best spot. It is like anything, if you go into the game in a good frame of mind, prep well and focus on the things you need to focus on, then you take those things out of the equation a little bit.

"I've only ever played there once, it was the start of the Six Nations on a Friday night. Think the roof was open if I remember rightly. We came out of the changing room that day and they turned all the lights off. We had a stand-off in the tunnel. It is a great place to go and play and I'm really excited about it.

"You have to be excited about it as a player. If someone asked me 'where is one of the best places you've played?' You would say the Millennium Stadium, for the atmosphere and everything that comes with it and the scale of the game. Obviously, Wales and England don't particularly like each other so it is exciting.

"There is a special feeling about going away from home. We love playing at Twickenham but there is a challenge ahead of us next week, we're playing a hugely emotional and talented team and they've got thousands of people behind them in a packed stadium. There is definitely a special feeling about going away from home and trying to get a result."

Though the 19-16 victory over France saw England claim a record 15<sup>th straight win it was overshadowed by a first 40 minutes which was arguably the worst in Jones' tenure in charge and since they were dumped out of the World Cup 16 months ago. Australian coach Jones blamed himself for not preparing his team properly, but Ford insists the players will take responsibility for the display.

"Defensively we need to get in better spaces so we can get off the line better and put teams under pressure," the 23-year-old added. "In attack, we need to get a bit more momentum and that comes from break down stuff and getting over the gain line. In international rugby as soon as you get front-foot ball, or quick ball, from breakdowns it is extremely difficult to defend so we need to focus going into next week.

"There were some clear messages from the players [at half time]. We knew what position we were in and what we needed to do to get out of it and the messages we need to get across to the team. Obviously, we weren't satisfied with the way we played first half. Nothing is ever perfect. When France took the lead with 20 minutes to go, still under the sticks there was no panic. I thought the lads knew pretty much what we had to do and to a degree we did it in the second half."