World Cup Warm-Up Match Preview: Wales v Ireland

With the opening round of the Rugby World Cup now in sight, Ireland are targeting a repeat of their pre-tournament win from four years ago when they visit Grand Slam champions Wales in Cardiff.

RUGBY WORLD CUP WARM-UP MATCH: Saturday, August 31

WALES v IRELAND, Principality Stadium, 2.30pm (live Channel 4/RTÉ Radio 1/BBC Radio Ulster MW/IRFU Live Blog)

Team News: There are 11 personnel changes from last weekend’s disappointing defeat to England, with the lone positional switch seeing Peter O’Mahony, the captain for today, move to openside flanker. The Corkman will lead his country for the eighth time – his record so far shows seven wins and one loss.

Jack Conan, James Ryan and Dave Kilcoyne will make their seasonal debuts at number 8, lock and loosehead prop respectively, while Tadhg Beirne fills the blindside berth, Iain Henderson continues in the second row, and Niall Scannell and John Ryan complete an all-Munster front row.

There is another provincial combination at half-back where Jack Carty makes his first Test start alongside Kieran Marmion. Ulster’s Will Addison has recovered from a back injury to start at full-back in what will be his first international appearance since last November’s GUINNESS Series.

Chris Farrell and Bundee Aki pair up in the centre for their fifth run-out together, with Addison supported in the back-field by Andrew Conway, the man-of-the-match against Italy recently, and Jacob Stockdale who is the final player retained from the Twickenham game.

For this afternoon’s warm-up fixture, squad captain Best leads a bench which includes Andrew Porter, Tadhg Furlong, Devin Toner, Jordi Murphy, Luke McGrath, Garry Ringrose, who covers out-half along with Addison, and Dave Kearney.

Speaking at the team announcement, Schmidt said: “It was always the plan (to make a lot of changes). We’ve got to try and best prepare our 31 to have had a bit of game-time and have a bit of rhythm. You saw what it was like when a team has had a couple of games and a team hasn’t played (last Saturday).

“You’re not suddenly at top speed, you need a bit of a hit-out, maybe two hit-outs before you’re up to speed. For us, it’s probably the forwards, the bigger guys, that need to have a few runs under their belt.

“Some of our backs played pretty well first up and that gives us a little bit of comfort around the likes of Johnny (Sexton), Robbie (Henshaw) and Keith Earls, who are all highly likely to play next week (against Wales at the Aviva Stadium), but not this week.

I have seen it (the level) lift, I do believe we’re in a better place to actually play rugby now, rather than prepare to play rugby. And I think there will be evidence of that, but the confirmation of that doesn’t come until we get through to the final whistle on Saturday and we see how players have performed.

“We’ve trained well this morning and that gives us a little bit of confidence that we’ll very much be a step ahead of where we were last week (against England).”

Meanwhile, Wales have included two uncapped players to face Ireland in Cardiff, with prop Rhys Carre and winger Owen Lane both set to make their international debuts. Match tickets can be purchased purchased here.

Carre and Lane, who played in the same Wales Under-18 and Under-20 teams together, will feature for Wales for the first time in a side captained by Cardiff Blues back rower Josh Navidi.

Carre will pack down in the front row alongside Scarlets pair Ryan Elias and Samson Lee. Ospreys duo Adam Beard and Bradley Davies form the second row partnership, while Aaron Shingler and James Davies join Navidi in the loose forwards.

Cardiff’s Jarrod Evans makes his first start for Wales and links up with Aled Davies at half-back. Scott Williams and Owen Watkin combine in the centre with Lane, Steff Evans and Hallam Amos lining out together in the back-three.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland, who retains only flanker James Davies from the team that defeated England 13-6, said: “It’s a great opportunity for Rhys and Owen, they have worked hard all summer to get to this point so it will be good for them to get their first international caps and put their hands up for World Cup selection.

“For Josh, it’s a huge honour to be named captain. He has been hugely consistent for us, he has really impressed in the last couple of seasons and he will lead from the front of Saturday. It is a great compliment for him to be awarded the captaincy.

“Saturday is a really big game for the players and I’m really excited about the challenge for this Welsh team. There is so much at stake in terms of World Cup selection. With a number of positions still up for grabs, it will be a huge game.”

IRELAND: Will Addison (Enniskillen/Ulster); Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster), Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster), Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht), Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster); Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht), Kieran Marmion (Galwegians/Connacht); Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster), Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster), John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Iain Henderson (Queen’s University/Ulster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) (capt), Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster).

Replacements: Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Ulster), Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Dave Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster).

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Karl Dickson (England)
Television Match Official: Rowan Kitt (England)

Match Odds (Paddy Power): Wales to win: 6/5; Draw: 19/1; Ireland to win: 8/11

Pre-Match Quotes: Peter O’Mahony (Ireland) –

We have drawn a line under that (the England game) now and we’ll kick on now to Wales. Whoever gets selected this weekend has a huge, huge responsibility to put the green jersey back in a good place.

“It’s not a performance that we are going to be proud of but we know there’s lots of stuff there that we can fix ourselves. We got a harsh reality check over video analysis sessions. We spent two days looking at it and building for something that we can hang our jerseys on on Saturday.

“There is an emphasis on things certainly that we’ve picked out that we want to see a big change in training but I’m not going to come out and tell you we kicked lumps out of each other in training. We didn’t. You can’t do that.

“We went out, we had two good, clear rugby sessions, we got through a lot of work and fixed a lot of things which was important for us. It has to be better (this weekend). You’ve got to see us all at Test match level and Test match pace and I think we were off the pace, both sides of the ball, last Saturday.

“You’ve got to see an Irish team at the pace we want to play with and make it difficult for Wales. There certainly isn’t any panic of any sort. Guys understand the points of the game we got wrong at and we understand that it doesn’t turn on its head overnight.”

Pre-Match Links –

Beirne: It’s Pretty Exciting To Play With Pete And Jack

Irish Rugby TV: ‘Principality Atmosphere Always A Factor’ – Murphy

Wales v Ireland Preview With Peter O’Mahony

In Pics: Ireland Captain’s Run Ahead Of Cardiff Match

Addision ‘Up To Speed’ And Keen To Put Injury Woes Behind Him

Irish Rugby TV: Beirne And Addison On Taking Their Opportunity Against Wales

Irish Rugby TV: Ireland v Wales Team Announcement Press Conference

Recent Meetings –

2017: RBS 6 Nations: Wales 22 Ireland 9, Principality Stadium

2018: NatWest 6 Nations: Ireland 37 Wales 27, Aviva Stadium

2019: Guinness Six Nations: Wales 25 Ireland 7, Principality Stadium

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