Head-To-Head: Ireland v Wales

2015 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, March 14

WALES (3rd) v IRELAND (1st), Millennium Stadium, 2.30pm (live RTÉ Two/BBC One/RTÉ Radio 1/IRFU Live Blog)

WALES: Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon); George North (Northampton Saints), Jonathan Davies (Clermont Auvergne), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro 92), Liam Williams (Scarlets); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys); Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Luke Charteris (Racing Metro 92), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues) (capt), Toby Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements: Richard Hibbard (Gloucester), Rob Evans (Scarlets), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro 92), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Scott Williams (Scarlets).

IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Jared Payne (Ulster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht), Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster); Jonathan Sexton (Racing Metro 92), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) (capt), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster).
 
Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Martin Moore (Lansdowne/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster), Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster).

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees: Jerome Garces (France), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Television Match Official: Graham Hughes (England)

Head-To-Head:

Played – 120
Wales Won – 65
Ireland Won – 49
Drawn – 6

The six drawn games were in 1890 (one goal each), 1929 (5-5), 1951 (3-3), 1962 (3-3), 1974 (9-9) and 1991 (21-21)

Ireland v Wales: IRFU Stat Zone

Ireland v Wales In The Six Nations:

2000: Wales won 23-19, Lansdowne Road
2001: Ireland won 36-6, Millennium Stadium
2002: Ireland won 54-10, Lansdowne Road
2003: Ireland won 25-24, Millennium Stadium
2004: Ireland won 36-15, Lansdowne Road
2005: Wales won 32-20, Millennium Stadium
2006: Ireland won 31-5, Lansdowne Road
2007: Ireland won 19-9, Millennium Stadium
2008: Wales won 16-12, Croke Park
2009: Ireland won 17-15, Millennium Stadium
2010: Ireland won 27-12, Croke Park
2011: Wales won 19-13, Millennium Stadium
2012: Wales won 23-21, Aviva Stadium
2013: Ireland won 30-22, Millennium Stadium
2014: Ireland won 26-3, Aviva Stadium

Biggest Wins:

Wales: Points: 34-9, 1976 Five Nations; Margin: 29-0, 1907 Four Nations

Ireland: Points & Margin: 54-10, 2002 Six Nations

Individual Records In The Series:

Most Points In A Match: Wales 20 (Neil Jenkins 1998); Ireland 22 (David Humphreys 2002)

Most Tries In A Match: Wales 3 (Johnnie Williams 1907, 1910; Bryn Williams 1920); Ireland 3 (Robert Montgomery 1887)

Most Appearances – Ireland v Wales:

16 Brian O’Driscoll
14 Mike Gibson, Ronan O’Gara
13 Donncha O’Callaghan
12 Ieuan Evans, Willie John McBride, Paul O’Connell, Phil Orr
11 Billy Bancroft, Gordon D’Arcy, John Hayes, Gethin Jenkins, Robert Jones, Stephen Jones, Moss Keane, Donal Lenihan, Brendan Mullin, Fergus Slattery, Peter Stringer

Top Points Scorers – Ireland v Wales:

113 Neil Jenkins
107 Stephen Jones
100 Ronan O’Gara
84 David Humphreys
57 Eric Elwood
54 Phil Bennett
52 Michael Kiernan, Jonathan Sexton

Top Try Scorers – Ireland v Wales:

8 Johnnie Williams
7 Brian O’Driscoll
6 Gerald Davies, Ieuan Evans, Teddy Morgan
5 Gareth Edwards
4 Rusty Gabe

Wales – Form Guide From Start Of The 2014 Six Nations:

Won 23-15 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Lost 26-3 v Ireland away (Six Nations)
Won 27-6 v France home (Six Nations)
Lost 29-18 v England away (Six Nations)
Won 51-8 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Lost 38-16 v South Africa away (Summer Tour)
Lost 31-30 v South Africa away (Summer Tour)
Lost 33-28 v Australia home (Autumn Series)
Won 17-13 v Fiji home (Autumn Series)
Lost 34-16 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 12-6 v South Africa home (Autumn Series)
Lost 21-16 v England home (Six Nations)
Won 26-23 v Scotland away (Six Nations)
Won 20-13 v France away (Six Nations)

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2014 Six Nations:

Won 28-6 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Won 26-3 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Lost 13-10 v England away (Six Nations)
Won 46-7 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Won 22-20 v France away (Six Nations)
Won 29-17 v Argentina away (Summer Tour)
Won 23-17 v Argentina away (Summer Tour)
Won 29-15 v South Africa home (Autumn Series)
Won 49-7 v Georgia home (Autumn Series)
Won 26-23 v Australia home (Autumn Series)
Won 26-3 v Italy away (Six Nations)
Won 18-11 v France home (Six Nations)
Won 19-9 v England home (Six Nations)

International Championship All-Time Records:

Points –
557 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
546 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
467 Stephen Jones (Wales)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
403 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)
256 Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)

Tries –
26 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
24 Ian Smith (Scotland)
22 Shane Williams (Wales)
18 Cyril Lowe (England)
18 Rory Underwood (England)
18 Gareth Edwards (Wales)

Caps –
65 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
63 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
56 Mike Gibson (Ireland)
55 Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
54 John Hayes (Ireland)
54 Jason Leonard (England)
53 Willie John McBride (Ireland)
53 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
51 Martyn Williams (Wales)
51 Marco Bortolami (Italy)
51 Gethin Jenkins (Wales)
50 Philippe Sella (France)
50 Rory Underwood (England)
50 Stephen Jones (Wales)

Wales – Most-Capped Players:

113 Gethin Jenkins
104 Stephen Jones
100 Gareth Thomas
100 Martyn Williams
95 Adam Jones
94 Colin Charvis
92 Gareth Llewellyn
92 Mike Phillips
87 Neil Jenkins
87 Alun Wyn Jones
87 Shane Williams
77 James Hook
76 Dwayne Peel
75 Ryan Jones
72 Ieuan Evans

Wales – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

1049 Neil Jenkins
917 Stephen Jones
461 Leigh Halfpenny
350 James Hook
304 Paul Thorburn
290 Shane Williams
211 Arwel Thomas

Wales – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

58 Shane Williams
40 Gareth Thomas
33 Ieuan Evans
22 Colin Charvis
20 Gareth Edwards
20 Gerald Davies
20 Tom Shanklin
19 George North

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

133 Brian O’Driscoll
128 Ronan O’Gara
105 John Hayes
99 Paul O’Connell
98 Peter Stringer
94 Donncha O’Callaghan
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
82 Girvan Dempsey
81 Rory Best
81 Gordon D’Arcy
72 David Humphreys
72 David Wallace
72 Geordan Murphy
70 Jamie Heaslip
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

1083 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
452 Jonathan Sexton
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
245 Brian O’Driscoll
217 Ollie Campbell
158 Tom Kiernan

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

46 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
28 Tommy Bowe
21 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
16 Andrew Trimble
16 Ronan O’Gara
15 Kevin Maggs
15 Keith Wood

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1457 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
1246 Jonny Wilkinson (1179-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1083 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
970 Stephen Jones (917-Wales, 53-Lions)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
809 Chris Paterson (Scotland)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
60 Shane Williams (58-Wales, 2-Lions)
57 Bryan Habana (South Africa)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
47 Brian O’Driscoll (46-Ireland, 1-Lions)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
46 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
44 Jeff Wilson (New Zealand)
41 Gareth Thomas (40-Wales, 1-Lions)
40 Chris Latham (Australia)

(Note: Daisuke Ohata scored 69 tries for Japan, but not all against major international opposition)

The ‘100 Caps’ Club:

141 Brian O’Driscoll (133-Ireland, 8-Lions)
139 George Gregan (Australia)
137 Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
130 Ronan O’Gara (128-Ireland, 2-Lions)
123 Keven Mealamu (New Zealand)
121 Victor Matfield (South Africa)
119 Jason Leonard (114-England, 5-Lions)
118 Gethin Jenkins (113-Wales, 5-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
116 Nathan Sharpe (Australia)
111 Sergio Parisse (Italy)
111 Marco Bortolami (Italy)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
111 John Smit (South Africa)
111 George Smith (Australia)
110 Stephen Jones (104-Wales, 6-Lions)
110 Tony Woodcock (New Zealand)
109 Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
109 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
107 John Hayes (105-Ireland, 2-Lions)
106 Paul O’Connell (99-Ireland, 7-Lions)
106 Bryan Habana (South Africa)
106 Jean de Villiers (South Africa)
104 Adam Ashley-Cooper (Australia)
104 Martyn Williams (100-Wales, 4-Lions)
103 Andrea Lo Cicero (Italy)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
101 Mauro Bergamasco (Italy)
101 David Campese (Australia)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)
100 Adam Jones (95-Wales, 5-Lions)
100 Mils Muliaina (New Zealand)