Wales vs Ireland - 14/03/2015 14:30

[Logorrhea]

Ireland take their unbeaten run and their championship and GS hopes to the Millennium stadium in Cardiff.

Does anyone actually expect us to want the roof closed? What mind games will Gatland play with us?

I cant see any changes apart from those enforced by injury and there are doubts over Johnny (he'll be fine), O'Brien (he'll be fine too), and Payne (he'll be fine). Does anyone expect any changes? Will Jamie be back in time for this one?

[offshorerules]

Who knows if Jamie will be fit or not but one would assume that if he is he will be selected. But to lose O'Brien, Sexton and Jamie would be too much for any side and I think we would struggle, so fingers crossed there. The upside is that given the discussion will be about whether or not he makes it in time we won't have to listen to cr@p about Henderson starting at 6 and O'Mahony moving to 8 for the next fortnight. That's a relief anyway.

[fourthirtythree]

I expect us to want the roof closed actually.

Last I heard about Jamie was that they had no idea when he would be back. I could be wrong but the impression I got was they weren't looking at soon.

[offshorerules]

I think they said 4-5 weeks so he could be fit for this match.

As for the roof I would imagine we don't care if it's open or closed so I would go for open as it reduces the atmosphere.

[blockhead]

Don't expect to see Jamie back for this.
What news of Ruddock?

[JB1973]

The game is 2.30 in the middle of spring the roof shouldn't be an issue one way or the other. Injuries will play a huge part , Ireland have great strength in depth but if you miss sexton sob and heaslip and we have warburton and biggar we should win. If you have any 2 of these playing I'd expect you guys to win.

Looking at last years game you out scrummaged us (lee should make an impact here) your line out took us apart (charteris is clearly a better option than coombs) and you destroyed us at the breakdown (lydiate,gethin and warburton were not really match fit) so again that area of play should be closer.

I see wales having an advantage in goal kicking, in the centres and the home advantage . I see Ireland having an advantage in kicking from hand, kick chase, line out and a huge advantage at half back , it should be a really good close game.

You have to make Ireland favourites with the momentum and confidence they bring into the game but as I said injuries can change everything

[olaf the fat]

Will Joe set out his stall as he did for France and England and say try to beat us, or will he try to be less predictable?

I would reckon Wales can score trys against us, they are more cohesive than France and more experienced than england - plus Gatland is a master at coming up with tactics to beat systems like we play at the moment.

I' am not confident about this game at all!

[johng]

Don't expect to see Jamie back for this.
What news of Ruddock?

I would expect to see nobody back after 4 weeks from 3 fractured vertebrae. So Jamie is probably going to take that nickname from John Eales.

Ruddock played 80 on Friday. Probably do the same on Saturday. Whether that gets him a slot with Ireland? Who knows? TOD and Murphy put up an excellent case for inclusion on Sunday

[olaf the fat]

Don't expect to see Jamie back for this.
What news of Ruddock?

I would expect to see nobody back after 4 weeks from 3 fractured vertebrae. So Jamie is probably going to take that nickname from John Eales.

Ruddock played 80 on Friday. Probably do the same on Saturday. Whether that gets him a slot with Ireland? Who knows? TOD and Murphy put up an excellent case for inclusion on Sunday

I cant see Jordi, TOD or Henderson dropping out of the match day squad.

[simonokeeffe]

Roof is interesting as I think Ireland will want it closed for better handling etc but Gatland will make a big deal about wanting it closed

A lot of Welsh ex players and journalists (and some English ones) ramping it up a little by saying Ireland just kick the leather off the ball and cant play
Dont think we would garryowen Wales off the park as Halfpenny and Sanjay Williams both excellent under it and Wales wont be trying to hide a diminutive outhalf

That said I think we are liable to kick for the corners more than garryowens plus Wales leave a lot of space behind defensive line

[Logorrhea]

Roof is interesting as I think Ireland will want it closed for better handling etc

We want to challenge the receiver by making it as slippery and difficult to handle the high kicks as we possibly can. I'd say we want it open, and we want sleet and driving rain while we are at it.

[JB1973]

Roof is interesting as I think Ireland will want it closed for better handling etc

We want to challenge the receiver by making it as slippery and difficult to handle the high kicks as we possibly can. I'd say we want it open, and we want sleet and driving rain while we are at it.

the one area Wales have really looked this 6 nations is under the high ball.

Liam Williams,halfpenny,biggar and Roberts are all excellent at jumping for or taking the high ball, I think all 4 played the majority of their junior rugby at full backs.

I know Murray/Sexton are great kickers but I wouldn't expect to see you get that much joy in that area or vice versa from our kick and chase game tbh

[johng]

George North is muck under the high ball though

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'm not sure why we'd play that way either. Not only are the Welsh back three better equipped to cope, but their pack don't have the same bulk that either France or England had so it should be easier for us to get over the gainline. We'll obviously still employ the tactic, but I would hope we see it less and confuse the Welsh defence who might well concentrate on it too much.

England succeeded by running them off their feet too, and that was from getting poorly kicked ball from the Welsh halfbacks, not the back three. So I would be more inclined to kick for the corners and put pressure on the halfbacks to clear their lines and get our maul going in and around the 22. If we try to turn North a lot then that may open up space on the other side when Williams is conscious of covering across too.

Tying in their back row, discipline, and stopping Felatau and Roberts on the gainline are the really important elements for us IMO. Roberts against Henshaw will be some contest.

[Oldschool]

The game is 2.30 in the middle of spring the roof shouldn't be an issue one way or the other. Injuries will play a huge part , Ireland have great strength in depth but if you miss sexton sob and heaslip and we have warburton and biggar we should win. If you have any 2 of these playing I'd expect you guys to win.

Looking at last years game you out scrummaged us (lee should make an impact here) your line out took us apart (charteris is clearly a better option than coombs) and you destroyed us at the breakdown (lydiate,gethin and warburton were not really match fit) so again that area of play should be closer.

I see wales having an advantage in goal kicking, in the centres and the home advantage . I see Ireland having an advantage in kicking from hand, kick chase, line out and a huge advantage at half back , it should be a really good close game.

You have to make Ireland favourites with the momentum and confidence they bring into the game but as I said injuries can change everything

Great build up there JB.
At least you admitted you wanted us to have the favourites tag and here's all of us thinking you were a real nice guy. Jeez tanks for nothing mate.
Wales like to be favourites in my opinion and feed off the favourites tag. They take it as an affront to be deemed to be underdogs. You've hit us with a double whammy there.
Although at some stage Ireland are going to have to get used to being favourites and deal with it. Leinster with Joe handled it so obviously Joe has the magic formula.

[Golf Man]

Ruddock won't be near it unless SOB and Heaslip are out. Hard to see Heaslip getting back in time, he obviously goes straight in if he does. Murphy and TOD both played to a level that most would have thought beyond them at the weekend so no major worries

Think we will kick a lot again (possibly not as much to the Wales back 3). While they might appear to be better than England in the air if the quality of thekicking and chasing is as good again its very difficult to counteract (England for example knew what was coming, had planned for it but couldn't deal with it)

Expect to see more use of the maul - never goinmg to be as much of a weapon v France and England as it is likely to be against Wales and Scotland - we took them apart in this facet last year

Wales are dangerous when on form, more so than any other team and they can score from anywhere (the kind of score that you really can't defend). Webb and Biggar have been huge pluses for them recently but they are not in Murray/Sexton territory

Personally I think we'll see more of the same with maybe a little less kicking - suffocate them up front and starve them of ball

[JB1973]

Charteris has to start he is the best forward we have at stopping the maul , (granted stopping POC is harder than stopping the French)

I hope Wales keep the ball in play and away from the line out as often as possible, I would like to see payne copes with john davies running at him in the wider channels

the irish back row have outplayed us on the last two occasions we have met , again injuries will play a big part here. A trio of POM SOB and Heaslip is far superior to a trio of POM TOD and Murphy, we can handle the later not sure we can handle the former.

No Paul James on the bench so looks like gethin may have to go the full 80, big ask at his age

[fourthirtythree]

I would expect a trio of POM TOD and Murphy. O'Brien would be a great bonus but I really wouldn't bank on him returning. I can't see Ruddock getting past TOD or Murphy

I wonder will Healy get the loosehead spot from McGrath by then?

No change otherwise. Though obviously I'd have one of Earls or Fitzgerald in the 23 ahead of Jones (nothing personal obviously but look at the mess of our backline at the end against England).

Oh wait, of course Payne may not be playing also. As a replacement for Payne I'd swap in Luke (and still have Earls in the 23). As Henshaw is going to be at 12 for the world cup it seems and is getting used to there I'd imagine he would want to minimise disruption.

[offshorerules]

Have you no other loose head? Wow. Cant see Gethin surviving against Ross and Moore, great prop and all as he is that's a tough ask.

On our backrow, an awful lot of people weren't happy with the selection of Murphy before the England game. In Tommy O'Donnell some would have said that naturally he would have been behind SOB, Henry, Ruddock and possibly Murphy as well. But when he was introduced the backrow of POM, Murphy and TOD dominated the English at the breakdown IMHO. The same English team that had dominated Wales. So I would be a little more comfortable with them than you suggest and I'm not sure that their selection would mean a Welsh win automatically. Far from it I think. Instead if Wales can get clean possession and avoid an arm wrestle then they have the backs to win the game. Otherwise Ireland will suffocate them .

[JB1973]

I would expect a trio of POM TOD and Murphy. O'Brien would be a great bonus but I really wouldn't bank on him returning. I can't see Ruddock getting past TOD or Murphy

I wonder will Healy get the loosehead spot from McGrath by then?

No change otherwise. Though obviously I'd have one of Earls or Fitzgerald in the 23 ahead of Jones (nothing personal obviously but look at the mess of our backline at the end against England).

Oh wait, of course Payne may not be playing also. As a replacement for Payne I'd swap in Luke (and still have Earls in the 23). As Henshaw is going to be at 12 for the world cup it seems and is getting used to there I'd imagine he would want to minimise disruption.

healy took a serious bang to the face last week, looked a sore one will he be fit for the weekend.

Earls was superb on Saturday best I have seen him play in years, but Joe seems to trust his ex leinster boys, neither is that much of a downgrade (if at all on payne)

our back up loose heads are the scarlet uncapped rob evans aged 21 , the average bevington or the twice capped, the out of favour rhys gill and playing his first game for 4 months this weekend 20 year old nicky smith.

An injury to gethin would be a nightmare