Wales coach Warren Gatland has begun the war of words with England ahead of their opening Six Nations clash in Cardiff on February 4th.
The game is vital to forging the direction of their respective Six Nations campaigns and whether intentional or not Gatland – who deliberately kept quiet about the opposition last year - struckthe first psychological blow by highlighting what he sees as England's weak links, with Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley bearing the brunt of his criticism.
"Hartley always seems to have a lot to say for himself, but we will see what he's got next week. Some of what he said was responsible for Richie Rees being banned for a lengthy period, yet he wasn't prepared to step outside with Gareth Williams when he was invited to do so. So we'll see how he fronts up on February 4," he said.
"I saw him go to pieces at Leicester a few weeks ago and again on Saturday night. It just shows people can crack under pressure."
It is perhaps no surprise that Hartley has been targeted given his run-ins with Welsh players so far this season, something fans of livescore goalwire rugby will no doubt remember.
He was involved in two ugly incidents in consecutive Northampton v Cardiff Heineken Cup games. He was sin-binned in game one after fighting with Gareth Williams before carrying on the scrap in the return game - an incident that eventually saw Williams' team-mate Rees banned for 12 weeks for making contact with Hartley's eye area.
It will be interesting to see how England coach Martin Johnson responds to Gatland's outbursts as he will no doubt be quizzed on it the next time he faces the media and it will provide a nice preamble to the real action that fans will no doubt follow on the livescores goalwire.
If he bites then it will only add to the feeling of expectation ahead of the huge clash in just over a week's time.
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