Six Nations leaders Ireland will be looking to make it three wins from three when they take on a promising young Welsh side at the Aviva on Saturday afternoon.
2024 Six Nations – Ireland v Wales
Saturday 24 February – 16:15
Aviva Stadium
While Andy Farell’s Irish outfit come into this one as heavy favourites with the bookmakers they will need to be wary of Warren Gatland’s young Dragons who will be looking to their first win of the campaign.
Ireland 1/33 | Draw 45/1 | Wales 10/1
Handicap
Ireland (-22.5) 9/10 | Wales (+22.5) 9/10
New year, same old Ireland. The men from the Emerald Isle are already extremely short favourites with the books to retain their Six Nations crown such has been their dominance in the opening two rounds.
Andy Farrell’s side faced what is likely to be their toughest test of the tournament in the opening round and passed with flying colours beating the French 17-38 at the Stade de France. It was a super clinical display from the Irish, who took their chances while limiting Les Bleus’ points-scoring opportunities.
The Irish followed that up with another solid display in the second round beating Italy 36-0. Their gain line stats and running metres were through the roof in that fixture but it was their impressive defence that really caught the eye as they offered Italy little in the way of try-scoring opportunities.
Farell will be hoping for another polished performance this weekend but will be also looking to deepen his squad which is evident with the call-ups of former Canterbury Crusaders prop Oli Jaeger and his fellow Munster forward Thomas Ahern. And with Iain Henderson sustaining a foot injury in last weekend’s URC action, Ahern could well find himself in the match day 23 for the clash with the Welsh.
While Andy Farell’s men have gone two from two and sit pretty at the summit of the standings, the Welsh currently sit in fifth spot on the ladder having lost their first two fixtures. While this is far from an ideal start to the Welsh rebuild, there are some encouraging signs for Dragons fans with their side putting in gutsy displays against both Scotland and England.
Warren Gatland’s men have actually been desperately unlucky thus far going down to Scotland by just a point in their opener after staging a dramatic fightback and then losing 16-14 to England despite being 5-14 up at half-time.
The losses do illustrate that this is a Welsh side that is lacking the experience to grind out wins. They are a spirited lot, however, and wins on the big stage will come with time.
Verdict: Ireland (-22.5) 9/10
While Wales have managed to keep things tight and go down by narrow margins in their opening to fixtures, I can’t see them doing the same here. The Irish are just far too clinical and a class above the rest of the teams in this year’s competition.
