Their coach is away on safari?
THAT’S NOT FUNNY. But yes, Warren Gatland is resting up his brittle ankles a little more to that he can happily tend to the best that Britain and Ireland can provide against Australia this summer.
Attack coach Rob Howley has stepped into the temporarily vacant position, but questions remain over how much Gatty’s absence is going to hurt the defending champions.
How’s the form?
Not good. Since completing the Grand Slam last March they have slipped to seven defeats from seven Tests.
Granted, four of these were against Australia and another was at home to New Zealand. But there’s no polishing up home losses to Samoa and Argentina.
They will be desperate to avoid defeat number eight tomorrow, but Ireland have plenty of winning templates to choose from.
David Jones/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Why have they been so bad?
Again, playing Australia too often has been bad for their health. And the defeats have not been humiliating.
In November they were badly hurt by the absence of prop Adam Jones. Add to that, a little indiscipline from Mike Phillips and some serious intensity from Samoa and Argentina and you ended up with a pretty demoralised looking side.
The Six Nations, however, is when Wales go live.
Who’s their key man?
At scrum half, Phillips rarely misses a chance to impose himself on the game. When Wales are going forward he can pull a game’s strings with ease and guide whatever flaky number 10 might be outside him.
Sam Warburton’s input will be crucial too. However, the skipper has been struggling for form in a bad Cardiff Blues side and many in Wales (including our guest blogger from The Coal Face) think he should not have been the first-choice openside ahead of Justin Tipuric. Time will tell.
How about the kicker
Full back Leigh Halfpenny will hopefully be a little distracted by his straight Lions shoot-out with Rob Kearney to concentrate properly on place-kicking.
Another Cardiff Blue, Halfpenny has at times looked like a man trying to carry a team on his shoulders for both club and country this season. His kicking can rarely be faulted, and he has added close-range consistency to his 50-metre-plus range.
Any injury worries?
You could say that… nah, it’s not all that bad. They have three top quality second rows out missing – Alun Wyn Jones, Colin Charteris and Bradley Davies – along with Ryan Jones and fly-half Rhys Priestland (whose place was under serious threat anyway).
Other than that, they’re at full strength.
Any old Welsh war-horses put out to stud?
Well, Shane Williams said he’d retire from the game at the end of last season, but he’s still jinking round defenders in Japan.
Hooker Lloyd Burns and more recently Morgan Stoddart have not been so lucky.Burns called time with a neck complaint in January, while Stoddart finally had to accept that a double leg fracture sustained before the World Cup could not heal well enough to cope with top class rugby.
Starting XV
Halfpenny; Cuthbert, Davies, Roberts, North; Biggar, Phillips: Jenkins, Rees, Jones; Coombs, Evans; Shingler, Warburton, Faletau.
