England's Six Nations clash with Wales on Friday has no bearing on the arch-rivals' mouth-watering World Cup pool match-up in September, assistant coach Mike Catt has insisted.
The English will host the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but were handed a shocker of a pool draw.
They find themselves up against not only Wales but also Australia and unpredictable Fiji, who knocked the Welsh out in 2007. Only two sides will go through to the quarter-finals.
But Catt, capped 75 times by England as an utility back, said his team's mind was focused only on Friday's match and not on bragging rights ahead of the September-October World Cup.
"We've got a lot of rugby to be played before that, to be honest," Catt said of the sport's showpiece tournament that will be hosted by England but with eight games staged at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
"Like we know for World Cups, we're together for three months prior to the start of that World Cup, so it makes a huge, huge difference for both teams.
"I don't think this result tomorrow night has any bearing on the World Cup at all."
Catt, who was born and raised in South Africa but qualified for England through his English mother, said the team had been stung by the 30-3 defeat in the Six Nations in 2013 even though only five players remain from that day.
"It hurt quite a lot. Every English person hurt that day, I don't think it wasn't just us as a team.
"But it was two years ago and that's a long time ago and since then we've been successful against the side we're playing tomorrow night, so it's very exciting," he said in reference to England's victory over the Welsh last season.
Head coach Stuart Lancaster has been meticulous in his warm-up to Friday's match and despite refusing Wales' request to have the retractable roof shut has been making his team train while hymns blare out of loudspeakers.
"It's all about the preparation for the game and it's very, very loud in the Millennium Stadium so it's about making sure the players understand how to communicate because it's one of the key things in a game of rugby union," Catt explained.
He added that what Wales had to offer would come as no surprise.
"They're an extremely big, physical side, very, very good defensively, they keep the ball on the park a lot and make you run at them.
"And that's where they're exceptionally good in turnovers," he said, citing skipper and flanker Sam Warburton and No 8 Taulupe Faletau as the danger men in broken play.
Source: AFP