BETWEEN MURRAYFIELD ON opening weekend, the loss away to Wales two years ago and Ireland’s last visit to the Millennium for the World Cup quarter-final, there can be no excuse for starting slowly and off the pace in Cardiff this Friday night.
Paul O’Connell evades Taulupe Faletau when ireland faced Wales in the 2015 Six Nations. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
In 2015, the early 12-point deficit was agonisingly close to being reeled in and, despite coming undone away to Wales, Ireland successfully defended the Six Nations crown.
There’s no margin for error in this title chase however, and forwards coach Simon Easterby, formerly the head coach of the Scarlets, knows that Wales’ poor form (only a win over Italy to show for their efforts) in this tournament only makes them a tougher proposition.
“For them it’ll be, not about righting wrongs, but they’ll feel they’ve been performing in games. The England game in particular, they will feel like they were the better team, but England found a way to win. They maybe felt like they threw that game away,” says the former blindside.
“We have to match them physically, we have to be smart in the way we play the game. We certainly didn’t give ourselves the best chance two years ago when we went there and gave them a 12-0 lead.”
“So it’s important that our discipline is good across the board and we work with the referee and make sure we’re on song there, so we give them no access, because they are the sort of team that builds momentum and build access into the game then they are very difficult to stop, because they have so many quality individuals who can get go-forward.”
Ireland aren’t short on quality individuals themselves, but after Ultan Dillane and Andrew Trimble were forced out of the tournament at the weekend, Jared Payne’s return from injury hit a bump and he was unable to take a full part in training yesterday. With Tiernan O’Halloran joining him on the sideline, it appears as though Rob Kearney will once again pull through, shaking off a groin issue to renew his rivalry with Leigh Halfpenny.