Wales head into the game on the back of five straight defeats, the last of which was a 23-20 reverse to Italy last weekend, and facing a potential RBS 6 Nations whitewash.

But Thomas, captain for the week after Stephen Jones injured his wrist, insists Wales are just one victory away from rekindling the form that carried them to glory in 2005.

Two years ago, Wales beat England to kick-start a campaign which ended in title glory.

On Saturday, they will be desperate for a repeat performance in the hope of staving off the dreaded wooden spoon.

And Thomas said: Why we havent had success when there are so many of the 2005 Grand Slam squad still here is a million-dollar question.

I feel results-wise we are not far away and performance-wise we are even closer again.

Its like when we won the Grand Slam. It took us to beat England to realise we are capable of winning.

Were a win away from being a good team and getting the confidence to be a good enough team to go out there and perform week-in, week-out.

Weve got the players and seem to be training well enough. Weve been inches away.

I felt we were the better team against Ireland. The Scotland game was terrible, the boys just didnt perform. But they did against France and again in Italy, its just that a couple of decisions didnt go our way.

Its not particularly about beating England, although that would be massive because they are reigning world champions, but we need that victory.

We are all proud Welshmen and the confidence we could get from winning could, I hope, jet us to the place we want to be.

The place Coach Gareth Jenkins has in mind is the World Cup final in Paris on October 20, as outlined in the Welsh Way mission statement he delivered before the RBS 6 Nations began.