Byrne was given the No.15 shirt on Wednesday after successfully appealing his two-week ban after his brief appearance as an illegal 16th player in the Osprey’s 17-12 Heineken Cup win over Leicester.

The 29-year-old was part of the Welsh side which defeated England at Twickenham in the opening game of 2008 and set them up for the Grand Slam.

And Byrne said: “We won at Twickenham for the first time in 20 years in 2008 and it propelled us on to winning in Ireland and nothing stood in our way then.

“If we can do the same this Saturday that will happen again. There should be expectation on us.

“You put yourself up there and it is up to you to perform at the top level.

“The expectation at the start of any campaign is immense, but the senior players in this squad have been through a lot together now.

“I’m over the moon that I can play – it’s been a tough four or five days and I just want to get back to something familiar and that’s playing rugby.”