Ireland welcome Wales to the Avivia in the opening game of this year’s Six Nations Championship.
Ireland and Wales kick off this year’s Six Nations Championships as two of tournament giants meet in Dublin.
Wales are the defending champions but Ireland are heavily favoured for the clash having beat the All-Blacks in the same venue in the Autumn series.
Ireland have the better record in the last five games winning four or the last five. However, Wales won last years battle in the Six Nations comfortably.
Wales came from behind to win the fixture in February 2021. Despite being a man down for the 14th minute Ireland managed to build a 13-6 half time lead. Tries for George North and Louis Reece-Zammit saw the Welsh close the gap and win the game 21-16.
The last time Ireland beat Wales was in November 2020 when the boys in green won 32-9. The Irish scrum was too big a unit to handle, this showed in the first half when excellent Porter scrumming gave Quinn Roux the platform to score finishing the half with a ten point lead. Penalties from Murray, Sexton and Burns saw the scoreboard ticking over leaving a late James Lowe try seal the day.
Earlier in 2020, Ireland beat them in the Six Nations with a bonus point victory. Jordan Lamour, Tadgh Furlong, Josh Van De Flier and Andre Conway saw the homeside see victory. It was performance that saw a real confident Irish side at their peak that year.
In the Autumn Internationals in 2019, Ireland rose to no.1 in the world rankings to following a victory over Wales in the Aviva Stadium. It was Irelands second time beating the Welsh in a week and marked their last warm-up before the World Cup.
In a World Cup warm up the week before the Autumn Internationals, these sides met in a friendly that was expected to see some new talents in both squads. Two tries from Stockdale and a Carty penalty saw the away side leading 15-3 at half-time. Ireland extended this lead to 22-3 before a broken attempt at a Welsh comeback saw Ireland win the game 22-17.