Ireland to meet Wales twice in World Cup warm-ups

Wales have confirmed two pre-tournament fixtures against Joe Schmidt’s side in Cardiff and Dublin.

Ireland travel to the Millennium Stadium on August 8 before hosting a return match at the Aviva Stadium three weeks late on August 29.

Wales coach Warren Gatland will use the Dublin clash as his final ‘trial’ before naming his 31-man World Cup squad two days later.

Gatland said: “We are delighted at our schedule for next year. We have home and away ties against Ireland as an extended squad and will face Italy with our final World Cup party.”

Ireland and Wales have previously one met once in a pre-World Cup friendly when Paul O’Connell scored two tries in a 35-12 win, watched by just 16,000 at Lansdowne Road, over a Welsh side then led by current All Blacks coach Steve Hansen. Gatland has also revealed his plans for preparing the squad for the tournament in which they have been drawn in the same pool as hosts England as well as former champions Australia, as well as Fiji.

That strategy is sure to leave his players blowing hot and cold having confirmed training camps in both Switzerland and Qatar.

Gatland said: “The altitude work really provides physical benefits while working in 40 to 50-degree heat in Qatar will also be pretty testing.”

The Wales coach will take his squad to an altitude of 2,250m at the Swiss resort of Fiesch for two weeks in July before flying them to the scorching temperatures of Doha where players will also sleep in ‘hypoxic’ chambers that simulate condition at 4,5000m above sea level.

Gatland said: “The training camps have been designed to push the limits of the squad and ensure we peak at the tournament. We have spoken at length about the benefits of being together as a squad for longer periods and I’m sure the results will show that come game time at the World Cup.”

Wales will also return to the former Olympic training facility at Spala in Poland, where they were based ahead of the 2011 World Cup, in between the games against Ireland, who they beat the quarter-finals in New Zealand.

Gatland added: “We were very pleased with the results of the 2011 preparation and this schedule not only uses what we learnt back then but builds upon it.”