The Scarlets skipper is the turnover king in the United Rugby Championship and looks all set to throw a spanner or two into the works of the much vaunted English back row at the Allianz Stadium in the opening round of the 2026 campaign.
A rupture of his Achilles tendon in training days before the Scottish match in 2021 cruelly forced the then 24-year-old flanker to miss his championship debut. Now he can’t wait for his championship and Twickenham debut.
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“It will probably feel like going into a bit of a war zone because that's probably what it's going to be on Saturday,” said Macleod.
“We've got systems in place to deal with certain aspects of the game, but there's a hell of a load of talent in our team as well. Let's not shy away from that.
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“We've got a pack that are willing to fight for each other, fight for every inch, and a back line full of ‘X factor’ as well so, as much as they've got their strengths, so have we.
“We had a really strong training week last week and that's rolled into the start of this week.
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We've built our game model, boys have adapted really well and let's see if we can put it on the pitch on Saturday.”
Wales, 13 time Grand Sklam champions, haven’t won a Six Nations game since 2023. They have lost their last 11 championships matches, while Steve Borthwick’s England side come into the campaign on the back of 11 straight wins in all matches.
Macleod and his fellow Scarlets got a taste of what to expect from England when they played Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup last month. Saints have six players involved with England.
“There wasn’t much difference between the two sides when we played Northampton Saints. There is always that physical edge in Anglo-Welsh matches, it’s a physical battle,” added Macleod.
“The first 20 minutes was massive for us and we started very well. With 78 minutes on the clock it was still a one score game.
“We are there and thereabouts, so we wil stick to ourselves and look after our own house. Whatever England throw at us we will be ready.
“I haven’t really felt a spirit in the group before as much as I have in this campaign. Man for man we are ready to stand up for each other and fight – that’s going to be massive on Saturday.”
