Warren Gatland named his 34-man squad for the Six Nations on Tuesday © Getty Images

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Warren Gatland is expecting teams to "kick the leather off the ball" when they face Wales during the Six Nations and says England are still weighing up which game plan to use ahead of the World Cup.

Gatland's Wales face England in the opening match of the Six Nations in a match which will be Stuart Lancaster's first back at Cardiff after they suffered the ignominy of the 30-3 thrashing in the final match of the 2013 championship. Gatland believes those "deep wounds" have taken a while to heal but with his Welsh side coming up against England both in the forthcoming Six Nations and the 2015 Rugby World Cup there is likely to be plenty of shadow boxing when the two sides clash on February 6.

Wales will leave a few surprises up their sleeves ahead of the World Cup opener and he believes England are still trying to work out their best options in the midfield.

"We are lucky in terms of we know where our selection is while England are still debating which way they are going, particularly at 10 and midfield and that will determine the type of game they play at the World Cup," Gatland said. "They are not 100 per cent sure because they have so much strength and depth, it's whether they play a nine or ten-man game or more expansively."

Wales are optimistic Samson Lee will be fit for the opener after he picked up a neck injury on January 3 while there are no guarantees George North will start the match having missed their last run out against South Africa on November 29. When asked about the options in the back three, Gatland told said it is hard to change a winning formula.

And Gatland hopes England will keep the roof closed for their Six Nations clash and also suggested the Wales tactics England are met with on February 6 will not necessarily be the same approach they bring to Twickenham on September 26 in the World Cup.

"You have always go to keep one or two things behind," Gatland said. "We've got to make sure that when we plan and prepare that we have got something in our repertoire that's a bit different. With analysis these days you can't keep a lineout the same for two or three games and it's the same with moves because people just work you out."

One man who will not be in the Wales squad for their meeting with England, barring a remarkable run of injuries, will be Leicester's Owen Williams. Gatland has no concerns over Williams re-signing with Leicester rather than favouring a move back to the regional set-up but said his omission from the 34-man squad for the championship was partly down to his absence in last Friday's Champions Cup game against the Scarlets.

"It didn't help him [Owen Williams] not starting last week in a pretty big game," Gatland said. "If he had played well it would have been a much bigger discussion but not starting killed that."

Wales have opted for three fly-halves in their Six Nations squad with Dan Biggar, Rhys Priestland and Gareth Anscombe named and it will be Biggar who heads into the championship as first-choice No.10 as they hope to build on their victorious end to the November series.

Wales had a mixed autumn as they finished on a high with a win over South Africa but fell to defeats against Australia and New Zealand. The latter saw Wales lead the All Blacks 16-15 up with 13 minutes left only to eventually slump to a 34-16 loss. The All Blacks' kicking game was deadly in the final throws of their match in Cardiff and Gatland is predicting other teams will attempt to replicate the Kiwis' tactics when they come up against Wales.

"It's going to be a really tough Six Nations. Win that first game and you get confidence and we go away to Scotland, win that and you can win the tournament. Lose that first game and then all of a sudden the game in Edinburgh is looking really tough as well.

"But the long-term goal is working towards the World Cup. We learnt a lot from the autumn in terms of how teams played against us, particularly the kicking game of the All Blacks. Teams are probably going to come and kick the leather off against us; we expect England to kick everything and we have got to be prepared for that."

And despite the Six Nations opener in Cardiff being a forerunner for their meeting in September, Gatland says form in the championship will not be a sign for what is to come in the World Cup.

"The team that wins it will probably go in thinking they are on the right path and it sometimes gives the team that loses the chance to change direction and work on a few other things," Gatland said. "The last two World Cups, the team that won the Tri Nations didn't win the World Cup.

"It's more of a confidence boost and good for the fans but for us it's about the bigger picture. It would be nice to get the win but we are very much looking to the World Cup and there's a debate and discussion among the coaches about how much we show, you don't want to show your hand completely but it's important you go out there and play well and win at home."