Ireland expect a fierce battle as Wales seek redemption in Six Nations clash
INTO THE LION'S DEN: Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
Whatever about sections of the Irish media, the Ireland team have never been under any illusions about the challenge facing them under the Principality Stadium roof on Saturday afternoon.
Touching down in Cardiff on Thursday afternoon ahead of this Guinness Six Nations top v bottom clash against winless Wales only reinforced Dan Sheehan’s expectation his squad are about to walk into a cauldron of passion both on and off the pitch as Welsh supporters rally around a re-energised national team under new management and determined to arrest a 14-Test losing streak on their return to home soil.
The arrival of interim head coach Matt Sherratt in the wake of Warren Gatland’s departure following dismal defeats on the road to France and then Italy has seen an immediate uptick in morale and some key call-ups to what had been an extremely callow line-up during the opening two rounds.
Fly-half Gareth Anscombe and outside centre Max Llewellyn have been brought in from the cold having been omitted from the squad by Gatland while Ben Thomas, a favourite of Sherratt in his guise as Cardiff head coach, has been installed in his preferred position at inside centre after a torrid and unsuccessful baptism at number 10 in both Paris and Rome.
Suddenly, the bravado of claims made on Irish radio last weekend that Simon Easterby could possibly send out just 12 players in Cardiff and still beat Wales, ranked 10 places below the world number two side, looks even more foolhardy and first-time captain Sheehan’s arrival in the Welsh capital has underlined the feeling that Ireland’s hosts should not be underestimated in their own backyard.
“Obviously they have been on a losing run of late but they’re a passionate nation. We only got here yesterday and it’s everywhere,” Sheehan said on Friday.
“Everyone is still really behind the team and they’re real passionate people, so I think in that sense it’s not in any way an easy fixture. If anything, it’s about knuckling down on the basics and making sure that we show up with the proper intent because that’s probably their gameplan – to come and try and bully us or physically dominate us.
“We have been talking about that all week to make sure that we come out with proper intent from the first whistle that we are lashing into them.”
Sherratt’s appointment last week following Gatland’s shock departure has had Ireland coaches reaching for glimpses of the Cardiff playbook as they attempt to get a read on how much the new Wales boss will change his new team’s approach given he was coaching against Connacht in Galway last weekend and only met the squad last Monday.
“It’s tricky,” Sheehan added, “when it’s the week of the Test game to sort of switch it up or try to predict so we focused on what we can control and that’s us but we obviously we talked a bit about how Cardiff play and they play a lovely attacking style of rugby, they have great flow with it.
“It’s hard to tell how much that can change over a week. We just need to focus on what we can control, stick to our basics and hope that the things we have put in place will handle anything.”
What is certain is that Ireland can expect a ferocious opening quarter from a fired-up Welsh team and sell-out crowd in an enclosed arena when the decibels will be ear-splitting.
Ireland’s own interim boss Easterby warned just how critical those first 20 minutes will be if his side are to maintain their winning start and keep their Grand Slam hopes alive heading into a round-four date at home to France on March 8.
"We didn't start fast against England (in round one), they got a bit of field position, ascendency, and got a 7-0 lead. We stuck to our process and found a way to put pressure on them in the first half, then we took the game away from them in the second half.
"So every game is slightly different. Yes, starting well does give you an advantage but we've got to make sure we don't give them any access and make sure we don't give them the opportunity to get the crowd behind them.
"There'll be plenty of Irish supporters there as well, I'd say, there usually is in Cardiff, and we need to make sure we don't give them that type of access that they can get momentum from.” After a week when Irish supporters have been accused of arrogance following that online sports radio conversation and which was gleefully picked up by media in Wales, Easterby was considerably more respectful.
"There's a few very good examples over the last few years and maybe a little bit further down the line where teams have turned up in Cardiff and they certainly haven't got it all their own way, and sometimes have ended up getting well beaten.
"So there will certainly be no complacency from us, they will have an unbelievable appetite and passion to try and put right some of the things that have gone on over the last couple of weeks and maybe months, looking back to November and last summer.
"So we have to prepare as we would normally prepare for every game and that's been our focus all week.”
B Murray (Scarlets); T Rogers (Scarlets), M Llewellyn (Gloucester), B Thomas (Cardiff), E Mee (Scarlets); G Anscombe (Gloucester), T Williams (Gloucester); N Smith (Leicester Tigers), E Dee (Dragons), WG John (Sale Sharks); W Rowlands (Racing 92), D Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs); J Morgan (Ospreys) – captain, T Reffell (Leicester Tigers), T Faletau (Cardiff).
E Lloyd (Cardiff), G Thomas (Ospreys), H Thomas (Scarlets), T Williams (Cardiff), A Wainwright (Dragons), R Williams (Dragons), J Evans (Harlequins), J Roberts (Scarlets).
J Osborne (Leinster); M Hansen (Connacht), G Ringrose (Leinster), R Henshaw (Leinster), J Lowe (Leinster); S Prendergast (Leinster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster); A Porter (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster) - captain, T Clarkson (Leinster); J McCarthy (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster); P O’Mahony (Munster), J van der Flier (Leinster), J Conan (Leinster).
G McCarthy (Leinster), J Boyle (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht), J Ryan (Leinster), C Prendergast (Connacht), C Murray (Munster), J Crowley (Munster), B Aki (Connacht).
Christophe Ridley (England).
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