Declan Kidney, not a man known for being a Don King-style hype machine, reckons the game at the Aviva tomorrow will be a “cracker”.
While all of us fans are pondering the chance to gain revenge for the crushing World Cup quarter-final defeat the Welsh inflicted on us a few months back, Kidney is plotting a different game this time.
“We need to exploit the opportunities we had but didn’t take in the quarter-final and also tighten up defensively,” said Kidney.
“Wales took their opportunities and we didn’t. Little things will make the difference. It’ll be a cracker.”
But captain Paul O’Connell is a little more realistic, and he is thinking more like us fans about our last two games against Warren Gatland’s side.
In last year’s Six Nations a Mike Phillips try shouldn’t have counted and we lost 19-12. Paulie hasn’t forgotten either defeat at Welsh hands in the last 12 months.
“There has been a lot of talk about this match and given the World Cup defeat and what happened in last year’s Six Nations game I expect an incredibly physical game,” he said.
We think O’Connell is spot on and this should be a bone-crunching affair, especially when you look at the Welsh back-line, arguably the most fearsome ever assembled in the Six Nations.
One wing, George North, is 6’4” and the other, Alex Cuthbert, is 6’6”. Centre pairing Jonathan Davies and Jamie Roberts are both the far side of 16 stone and above 6 feet too. It will be a bruising day for Gordon D’Arcy and Fergus McFadden if nothing else.
But Ireland can make up for a small physical disadvantage in this area with experience throughout the XV, a fired up home crowd and a burning desire for revenge
Will it be pretty? Probably not. Will it be cracker? It might be. Will it be compelling? You bet.
Can’t wait.
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