Why Cardiff holds no fears for the Irish

IN spite of all the cautionary words this week of how dangerous Wales are in Cardiff and how desperate they will be to avoid a whitewash

Unless Ireland can defeat the present Welsh side and do so decisively, they will have little hope of beating a full-strength England at Lansdowne Road tomorrow week and probably even less so of making an impression in the World Cup next autumn. Well and all as we have done to beat Scotland and Italy away and France in Dublin, the case for this Irish team is unproven.

They have yet to produce the kind of controlled performance to keep clearly inferior opposition at bay throughout two of the three games and there were prolonged spells in all of them when you wondered if the team were well short of the desired standard.

Frankly, I don’t see Wales providing the level of resistance over the 80 eighty minutes that will prevent Ireland retaining their unbeaten record in Cardiff dating back to 1983. It’s not that Ireland have yet proved themselves anything like world beaters, rather that the scarlet dragons are nowadays a sick parody of the great sides of the 1980s when JPR, Gerald, Barry, Gareth, the Pontypool front-row and Merve the Swerve were flaunting their magnificent talents.

No need for surnames to identify those guys. In contrast, there isn’t a single Welsh player today who can be mentioned in the same breath. Graham Henry may have made Lions out of several of them a couple of years ago but that kind of thing was later seen as sheer folly.

Henry and the bulk of those Lions have departed the scene to be replaced by the willing Steve Hansen and another bunch of players lacking the talent and the game plan to worry any kind of serious opposition.

And, hopefully, that’s just what Ireland, under Eddie O’Sullivan, Declan Kidney and Niall O’Donovan have developed into.

They have a sharp, hard edge. They are motivated and committed. They are confident after a record run of nine successive wins, yet not cocky because they know the ultimate test has still to be set.

They have players in great form in key positions, Brian O’Driscoll at second centre stands a class apart from all other three-quarters, Peter Stringer (in spite of constant sniping from predictable quarters) is arguably the outstanding scrum-half in the championship, the line-out is working like a dream thanks to the accurate throwing of Shane Byrne and the athleticism of Malcolm O’Kelly, the back-row is on fire with Keith Gleeson operating as a true scavenger in the No 7 shirt and Anthony Foley like a rock as No 8 and pack leader.

I am satisfied that they will more than cope with the best that Wales can throw at them despite Eddie O’Sullivan’s best efforts to minimise Irish anticipation.

Steve Hansen, for his part, hasn’t been talking up the Irish team too much. Doubtless, he believes his players have enough negatives of their own to dispel without thinking about the strengths of the other team.

“The Irish have done very well with a team of good tradesmen,” Hansen commented. “They’ve got one or two world-class players but the majority are just good tradesmen. They went through a period of being criticised as a poor side but they’ve gelled well as a team and got better and better. They work their butts for each other.”

Good tradesmen? Perhaps, although it’s the kind of expression Hansen may very well regret by 4 o’clock this afternoon. At best, his words damn Ireland with faint praise and the players will want to ram the words down his throat.

“Wales will be at least as fired up as they were against England if not more so,” said Eddie O’Sullivan. “They see it is as an opportunity to get a win in the Six Nations before going to Paris. If we don’t win in Cardiff, that’s the end of the grand slam discussion. For now, it’s all about this game. If we come up short against Wales, we’ll be very disappointed and have taken away a great opportunity for ourselves on Sunday week.”

Quite sensible, of course, but the reality for all those who believe that Ireland are now approaching the stage where they can tackle the world’s best with an equal chance is that Wales must be put away with conviction if that ambition is any way realistic. And I believe that is precisely what will happen in the majestic surrounds of the Millennium Stadium this afternoon.