Stringer wary of backlash

THE Irish camp should have penned a Thank You card to the entire Welsh squad. Two weeks ago it would have been impossible to imagine a scenario for this game where all the heat would be on Wales and not Ireland.

Mike Ruddock’s team had just beaten Scotland comfortably and a hospital ward of injuries meant they could travel to Dublin safe in the knowledge that defeat would not be a national disaster. Ireland, after two highly-unsatisfactory performances, would be the ones sweating under the spotlight.

That was before the Principality descended into anarchy and civil war with Ruddock’s departure, and, now the Welsh players need a performance that will keep the wolves from their door.