By Bryn Palmer BBC Sport in Brisbane

Centre Will Greenwood insists "past history is irrelevant" as England prepare to take on a rejuvenated Wales in Sunday's World Cup quarter-final.

Greenwood was given a late run against Namibia on Sunday

Clive Woodward's side have won the last five matches between the two old foes with an average winning margin of 32 points, including a one-sided warm-up win in August.

Wales have only prevailed on one occasion in the last decade, when Scott Gibbs' late try famously denied England a Grand Slam at Wembley in 1999.

But Greenwood insists: "As far as complacency goes, with a team captained by Martin Johnson, the word just doesn't enter our vocabulary."

The prolific centre has been a particularly sharp thorn in Welsh flesh in recent years.

He first tasted victory with England in a 50-point drubbing of the Dragons, against whom he also scored the first of his 29 tries, including a hat-trick in Cardiff two years ago.

We know how tough a fixture it will be England centre Will Greenwood

Greenwood's parents live in a north Wales village near Llandudno, and he admits he was enthused by their performance against New Zealand.

"It was great to watch as a rugby fan, never mind as a fellow competitor at this World Cup," he said. "They created some superb opportunities out of nothing.

"If they can perform like that again, we are going to have to be at our very best, but we always knew that if we don't do that in a quarter-final, we will come a cropper.

"But the way they played against New Zealand hasn't made a difference to how hard we are preparing.

"It just shows that come the last eight, everyone has a crack at this, and the other quarter-finals will be no different. We know how tough a fixture it will be."