Ireland vs Wales, Six Nations 2016, Sunday 7th Feb, 2016. KO 3PMGMT

This Sunday afternoon sees a game which holds a special appeal for me, more than any other game of rugby football.

Why so? Well, my grandmother was born in Wales, in the little village of Menai Bridge. She didn’t live there for very long as her family moved to Ireland when she was young but she was there long enough to have Welsh as her sole tongue and to call it home. As the years passed and Granny Rose grew up, the bond with Wales was never forgotten; over time it rubbed off on my own Mum and eventually onto me as well. Granny is long departed now while Mum is not far from her calling as well; still the love of the Land of our Fathers is very much there in our greater family.

But what has my family tree got to do with Warren and Joe and their renewed spat? A wee bit and do allow me to explain how in a minute…..

Lets be honest, both Ireland and Wales had poor RWC’s but under rather different reasons. In Ireland’s case a soft group draw included wins against Italy and France that ultimately proved Phyrric in nature. On the other hand Wales came out of the Pool of Death having been written off due to an epidemic of injuries to many key players only to be narrowly defeated to South Africa. Similarly, both Union’s home clubs have struggled somewhat in League and Cup in comparison to what’s expected from each other, the bookies odds reflecting same. 



That said it’s not all doom and gloom. Scarlets are the form team in the Pro 12, Ulster are strong in Europe, Connacht are turning heads this season while Leinster are quietly returning to form and with a new breed of talented footballers.




On the field of play, the Ireland team are still encountering the run of injuries that has hampered the selection of the optimum starting 15 over the last 2 years yet these didn’t hamper back to back 6N titles. Doubts about Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney are par for the course these days yet in the likes of Payne, Henshaw, Ruddock, Dave Kearney, Tommy O’Donnell, CJ Stander (Below) and and in form Zebo to call up these holes are swiftly plugged on the day. The tight six selections are a lot easier as indeed are the half backs, a blessing that Joe is surely relieved to have been granted.

Gatland’s team was named earlier this week and, well, it’s vintage Gatland. Plenty of bluff and big talk from Warren G. There’s a WTF selection in Cardiff’s Tom James (Below) as well as a recall for match day captain Sam Warburton at blindside, a man who’s played but one hour of football since November. Gethin Jenkins is demoted to an experienced bench in favour of Llanelli prop Rob Evans while Alan Wynn Jones is a comforting site for the Welsh in the second row. All in all, it’s a 23 that will want to win a war of attrition.



Sunday is likely to be one of two games. Either Wales will want to carry ball in the pack for 80 minutes, to try to kill us with short sharp breakdowns and pick ups to win penalty kicks and make use of scrum ball or Ireland will kick into the space as much as possible to exploit indecisiveness in the Welsh full back line, nurse line outs and make the most out of hard hitting set piece midfield runs from Payne and Henshaw. Even though Wales have more in the way of match winners and on field flair, this time round I’ve less faith in Welsh consistency and more in Irish reliability when it’s needed most. This time round I’m going with a home win in the region of 22-19 and two tries to one.

Whatever way it goes, it will be no Super Saturday, it certainly won’t be pretty, it will be pretty close and as for the spat, well the argument, the making up and the singing afterwards will be sweet, just how one Rose Owen of Menai Bridge would have liked it