• Wales full back says "nothing less" than a Grand Slam is acceptable 
• Harsh training camp in Poland "pushed squad to our limits" - Halfpenny

Welsh full back Leigh Halfpenny has laid down the gauntlet ahead of the Six Nations clash with England on Saturday by saying Wales can win the Grand Slam this year.

Wales and England are currently tied at the top of the table, with both sides recording victories in their opening matches. Each will go to Twickenham looking to maintain their 100% record and keep Grand Slam hopes alive.

But the Cardiff Blues player says that Wales are hungry for success and that nothing less than a Grand Slam in 2012 RBS 6 Nations will do.

"At the end of the day we want to be the best," the 23-year-old said. "That means winning every single game and achieving the Grand Slam. That is the objective in this tournament - nothing less.

"We are preparing for this tournament as we did the World Cup, which was another tournament we set out to win. We want to be the best, and we set high goals to bring the best out of us.

"We train as hard as possible, and nothing less than our best will do. Everyone is ambitious, from the coaches to the players.

"Winning trophies is our goal, and we believe we can achieve that."

Halfpenny led from the front during Wales' opening two victories over Ireland and Scotland, kicking a match-winning penalty in Dublin under intense pressure and then amassing 22 points - including two tries - when the Scots lost in Cardiff.

Wales would still need home victories over Italy and France but Halfpenny puts much of Wales’ current success down to the harsh training camp the squad endured in a freezing Poland last month.

"We were pushed to the limits of our endurance - and beyond - out there," he said.

"Your mind is drained, and you need the support of your team-mates to lift you and pull you through, making sure we all get to the finishing line.

"That is what it was like in Dublin during the final five minutes when we were six points behind. Every single player contributed to winning the match.

"It was a really hard game, and 75 minutes in you felt as you had felt in Poland. You had to look deep inside yourself to be able to get the result, and we knew, because of what we had been through together, that we had the character to do it.

"Ireland kicked off after we had scored a try to reduce the deficit to a point, and we had the skill to take the ball up the field in a series of drives.

"We had focused on the basics in training because at such a high-pressure moment in the game you do not want to knock the ball on or anything. Our skills were up there at that point in the game."

Head coach Warren Gatland also took his squad to Poland before the World Cup campaign in New Zealand and Halfpenny admits it is a testing environment.

"There were no home comforts during our time in Poland," he added.

"The rooms were basic, no nice beds, and the food was not to our taste. It was egg with everything.

"No-one there spoke our language. It was just us, and when we were there last month, it was freezing cold. We trained on the beach, and it was covered in snow.

"It was a harsh environment, testing you mentally. It was like a military camp, pushing you to breaking point, but you made sure that you did not give in and you pulled others through.

"There were times when you felt like giving up. You thought you had no more to offer and then, from somewhere, you find an extra bit.

"It was like the training in Rocky IV, except for the cutting down of trees."

Halfpenny believes the agonising semi-final defeat against France in the World Cup, where he missed a late long-range penalty, made Wales “stronger” and has given the players an added drive to do better.