‘Grudge match’ has nothing on The Great War

Now that Scotland have been taken care of, the stage is set for the serious business of The Grudge Match and Warren Gatland’s return to Ireland.

Wales’ defence of the Six Nations title in Dublin on Saturday puts their New Zealand coach in the eye of a storm which has been brewing on both sides of the border over his discarding of Brian O’Driscoll from the Lions’ decider in Australia last summer.

The occasion marks the centenary of the last international played before The Great War, the Balmoral Brawl in Belfast in March 1914 which has gone down in history as the most violent of all Ireland-Wales matches.