6N 2016: Ireland v Wales, 7 February

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IRELAND v WALES
7 February 2016
KO: 15:00 GMT
Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Live on RTE, ITV, FR2, DMAX, BBC(H)

Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Touch judges: [tbc]
Television match official: [tbc]

A. Head to Head

123 Played 123
52 Won 67
4 Drawn 4
67 Lost 52
1,365 Points 1,461

B. Recent Form

29 August 2015
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
10 – 16 to Wales

8 August 2015
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
21 – 35 to Ireland

14 March 2015
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
23 – 16 to Wales

8 February 2014
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
26 – 3 to Ireland

2 February 2013
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
22 – 30 to Ireland

C. Teams

IRELAND

S Zebo; A Trimble, J Payne, R Henshaw, K Earls; J Sexton, C Murray; J McGrath, R Best (capt), N White; D Toner, M McCarthy; CJ Stander, T O’Donnell, J Heaslip.

Replacements: S Cronin, J Cronin, T Furlong, D Ryan, R Ruddock, K Marmion, I Madigan, D Kearney.

WALES

G Anscombe; G North, J Davies, J Roberts, T James; D Biggar, G Davies; R Evans, S Baldwin, S Lee, L Charteris, A-W Jones, S Warburton (capt), J Tipuric, T Faletau.

Replacements: K Owens, G Jenkins, T Francis, B Davies, D Lydiate, L Williams, R Priestland, A Cuthbert

Well, best of luck today maest, hope its at least a decent game after yesterdays showings but I fear it wont be much of a spectacle.

Ketone Garces is probably number two behind Nigel Owens. He is a pedant with the scrum, but he can deal with the breakdown. Yesterday both games were killed by stagnating referees.

Enjoy the match mate..

According to BBC sport breaking news, Anscombe is out after a training injury and Liam Williams is on stand by.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/35516570

That's unlucky for Anscombe. Hope it's not too serious.

Yes me too, I like the player, has got a great pass and is good at freeing the wings, unlucky for him.

Could we not get a magic injury to Zebo?
Replace him with Payne and stick McCloskey into the centre

Pete330v2 wrote:Could we not get a magic injury to Zebo?
Replace him with Payne and stick McCloskey into the centre

Maybe we should get a coach with the pips to make the correct positional selections first

Good news for Ireland really, it means Priestland is starting at 15 and Sanjay on bench methinks.

Noooooooooooooo!

I'd start Liam.

Starting Priestland at 15 is a bit of a gamble really. Hope Anscombe's injury is not serious.

Liam starts with priest staying on the bench

Oh god Preistland is on the bench...

I'm happy to see Liam Williams getting a start though he's a great attacking player and now arguably Wales are stronger, if we can get any kind of dominance in the pack we could go to town on Ireland, then again if they stuff our pack they will get a big win.

I'm actually feeling quietly confident about this game. I've no idea why, normally I'm bricking it when we play Ireland...

I'll go with a Wales win today.

Wales team: Liam Williams (Scarlets); George North (Northampton Saints), Jonathan Davies (ASM Clermont), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), Tom James (Cardiff Blues); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Gareth Davies (Scarlets); Rob Evans (Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Luke Charteris (Racing 92), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, Capt), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues), Rhys Priestland (Bath Rugby), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues).

I must admit I like the bench.
Lydiate incase we need more of a defensive effort.
Lloyd Williams in case we need to quicken the pace from scrum half.
Ken Owens always does well as an impact player.
Bradley can add a bit of steel if needed.

Not to knock Priestland too much but if he's classed as a confidence player, and he isn't playing for Bath, won't that mean he'll be bloody awful?

Both teams have a couple of injuries, it's a shame Webb and Halfpenny didn't make it back in time for the 6 nations.

So Sanjay is starting, risky but fingers crossed no more injuries, we're having rotten luck with that lately. Seems like Ireland are trying to steal our 'most injured team' tag. Hope it's a great game.

Liam Williams starting has really damaged my (already pitiful) confidence for this game. Honestly I think he should be the starting 15 for Wales when fully fit and firing as he brings a real element of danger that Halfpenny can lack at times. Ireland will have to be extremely cautious of the counter attack now. I'm assuming he wasn't initially starting as he is just returning from injury?

Anyway, I can't wait to see a few more little scuffles between himself and Andrew Trimble.

Great build up. Very interesting chat from wilkinson, Thomas and some ginger bloke

Who's replacing Liam on the bench?

Just realised he wasn't in the 23

Bay field Darcy Shane and Maggie look rather reminiscent of certain characters from the Lord of the rings

Speaking of the respective bench options, I fear that the Ireland bench is very much lacking in the "impact player" department. Do the Welsh really fear what Dave Kearney or Ian Madigan will bring to the game when they arrive? In the pack it is the same story really. As good as Ruddock has been, he isn't really the player to tip the game in our favour when he arrives. The same goes for the rest really (Cronin and his dynamic carrying apart) but I am excited to see what Marmion and Furlong might bring to the table.

On the other hand, Lydiate is the perfect player to bring on and stifle the Irish ball carriers. As poor as Cuthbert has been he still brings a lethal finishing ability that could be very evident when he arrives around the 60/70 minute mark or so.

RubyGuby wrote:Who's replacing Liam on the bench?

He was t on the bench, he was a travelling reserve

Liam Williams really is a player that worries me, on form he can be electric.

Please guys - can we have a better spectacle than the Calcutta cup match.

CJ Stander belting out the anthems!

Well, here goes.

Good start from Ireland.

It's a good start from Ireland. We're still quite safe with the one pass rugby but it's putting pressure on them, they are conceding penalties. Meanwhile Wales putting more width on the ball but Ireland defence coping with the threat they pose very well, if not comfortably.

We can't let them win the territory battle mind you. We play the game in their half and we can wear them down.

Peter Stringer says Zebo has been watching the best of Dave Kearney after being beaten for pace by a Number 8

Excellent start to the match, already higher quality than the other 2 matches. CJ Stander is a beast and Trimble again proving he is the best Irish winger. Zebo has also played very well.

Game over if Priestland has to come on for Biggar.

We're making some really stupid mistakes that are giving them cheap access to our 22. We're defending extremely well but if we let them spend time here they will eventually cut us open.

Anscombe was back-up kicker to Biggar, possibly back-up 10, so a double blow for Wales.

Game over. Well done Ireland

Ireland turnover AGAIN.

Ireland working with scrap ball look a lot more threatening than working to a game plan.

Wales look rather lethargic and clueless. I hope they're just dusting off the cobwebs.

This is classic Ireland Rugby; making the opposition fight to win every single ruck, hitting the corners, pressurising the kicker and defending heroically. Scrum has been poor and some costly mistakes but I'm hugely encouraged by our start.

And that is a classic Schmidt power play from the lineout nearly getting Stander through for a try.

This is going to be a long day.

Gareth Davies having a shocker so far

Put the ball down .22!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is priestland doing??? We should have had a drop out 22 instead he decides to kick to touch and give Ireland possession in our half

We always start so slowly.

Definitely game over now

Will need to win in Twickernam to have a chance now.

YESSSS!!!!!!!!!!

Schmidt is such a clever coach. He is the best in the world. Gatland passable.

Excellent play by Murray in anticipating when the weak shoulder would come.

This is too good to be true.

Ireland good to watch, thus far. Excellent all-round display, and the points are deservedly on the board.

gog1992 wrote:We always start so slowly.

Yes, but WHY?
There is simply no excuse for such a lack of composure and readiness.

Pot Hale wrote:Excellent play by Murray in anticipating when the weak shoulder would come.

This is too good to be true.

So clever to use Stander as the decoy. This is a really smart performance today so far

Pretty easy for Ireland so far, Wales just not getting into the game. Rob Evans dire prop, I can't believe he's starting, Welsh scrum goes backwards when it counts.

Red card

I just wish we could stop with the stupid errors. Putting the ball out on the full, messing up the restart.

Earls did brilliantly there, tackle and turnover

Disappointed with that penalty. Really quality defensive play from Earls.