It is time for a slumbering Wales rugby team and under-fire coach Gareth Jenkins to wake up and smell the coffee.

England, the rugby nation Welsh supporters love to hate above all others, will guarantee an embarrassing tournament whitewash for the 2005 RBS 6 Nations champions if they triumph in Saturday's Millennium Stadium finale.

Jenkins though, will doubtless find "positives" - his buzz word - to emerge from what has been a miserable season.

Results leap depressingly from the page. Jenkins' record shows just two wins in 10 Tests, which is an identical 20% success rate to the last 10 Tests of Andy Robinson's reign.

Robinson is now an ex-England head coach.

Jenkins' faith in his players is absolute, but almost to the point of blindness, which was illustrated when he announced an unchanged side for the England game just three days after Wales botched their Italian job and lost 23-20 at Stadio Flaminio.

Skipper Stephen Jones' subsequent wrist injury meant a change of plan, but at times, you wonder just quite what Jenkins is talking about.

Professional sport is a results-based business - ask Robinson - yet still Jenkins trots out lines like ``there was a danger of making changes for changes' sake'' after Italy, and ``we believe this group of players is capable of getting it right - and capable of beating England.''

Wales' best performance of the championship, by some distance, came in their opening game against Ireland, although it should not be forgotten they lost 19-9 on points and 3-0 on tries.

The display at Murrayfield a week later was so bad it almost defied belief, before signs of an improvement against France were undermined through the Italian loss.

And don't be misled by referee Chris White and the great time-keeping farce that dominated the headlines, post-Rome.

Wales showed such astonishing arrogance to go for a lineout with ``10 seconds'' left.

Why didn't they kick the penalty and probably get out of town with a draw? Would they have sacrificed such a golden scoring opportunity to tie things up against either England or France?

Perhaps Wales thought a draw against Italy would be received as badly back home as a defeat, but what made them think they could properly execute the lineout that never was, then drive Italy's superb forwards backwards at a rate of knots? Talk about delusions of grandeur.

And then we come to selection.

Fly-half Jones is a terrific tactical and technical operator, but he has clearly been burdened by the captaincy and proved unable to exert influence on games throughout the Six Nations campaign.

We are not even talking hindsight, here, just stating a case of the obvious.

Why wasn't Colin Charvis - the best back-row forward in Wales on current form - installed at any point of the tournament? And why didn't Jenkins go the whole way and make him captain?

Why has Dwayne Peel remained at scrum-half on the back of consistent ineffectiveness, when Mike Phillips provides a dynamic and physical alternative?

Why is the bristling aggression of Brent Cockbain being held in reserve this weekend, rather than utilised from the start?

Perhaps most alarmingly of all, Jenkins and his players appear genuinely amazed at the public reaction to Wales' demise.

``I can't see where all this criticism is coming from,'' said Wales flanker Alix Popham, this week, while number eight Ryan Jones launched a tirade before the Italy game, and they have not been alone from within the Wales squad.

If the truth hurts lads, then don't read the papers.

Wales have one last chance in this season's Six Nations to do some talking on the pitch, even though a victory over England should not be allowed to paper over the cracks.

Jenkins - and I was among the many who backed his appointment last year - has so far proved a huge disappointment.

Despite him speaking about a ``work in progress,'' how much time will he actually be allowed to get it right?

Whatever happens, his job looks safe at least until after the World Cup in France later this year, but imagine the sense of anger among Wales fans on Saturday night if England leave Cardiff triumphant.

Worse still, for the suffering Wales faithful, imagine a try-laden England victory achieved in the style of Wales' scintillating 2005 Grand Slam success.

But don't rule it out, given a red rose back division containing the likes of Jason Robinson, Mathew Tait, Mark Cueto, David Strettle and Toby Flood, with the impish brilliance of young Shane Geraghty waiting in the wings.

If England's forwards, as they did against France four days ago, establish dominance, then Wales can expect another long afternoon at the office.

Doubtless though, Jenkins, his coaching staff and players will find ways of putting a positive spin on events, even if England win 50-0.