Brian O'Driscoll has revealed he hated losing to Wales even more than England because of the 'animosity' he feels was whipped up by Warren Gatland.
The former Wales boss was stung by his controversial sacking as Ireland coach in 2001 when he was replaced in the hot-seat by Eddie O'Sullivan.
Gatland went on to ignite a golden era for Welsh rugby by landing three Grand Slams and in doing so created an intense rivalry with Ireland.
Gatland decided to ramp up the tension ahead of one big Six Nations showdown by revealing that, of all the Six Nations teams, the Welsh players disliked the Irish the most.
His comments came ahead of a 2009 Irish tilt at the Grand Slam against Triple Crown chasing Wales at the Millennium Stadium, which saw somewhat distorted headlines using the word 'hate' as the rivalry intensified between the Celtic cousins.
And Ireland skipper O'Driscoll admitted the feeling was mutual among the players.
Asked on Tuesday morning's Off the Ball breakfast show in Ireland if England were the worst team to lose to, the Lions legend replied with an emphatic "NO!"
Gatland's Wales, he made it clear, were 'the most difficult to lose to'.
"It's exciting playing well against the likes of England because more often than not they are one of the best teams in the world," O'Driscoll explained.
"If you can park the history, you know you're going to have to excel in your performance to beat them, be it home or away. That's the thrill players get and you feed off the public's perception how important it is to beat England and you enjoy the adulation than comes with that.
"But, I don't think they're the most difficult to lose to.
"There's been a lot of niggle with Wales for a number of years. The way Gats felt the way he was treated in Ireland when being kicked to touch for Eddie (O'Sullivan), that dragged on for a number of years.
"There was always a nice bit of niggle between ourselves and Wales."
The interview was interrupted at that point, when the link to O'Driscoll broke up, which gave time for the show's presenter to have his say.
"The Welsh, who would have thought it?" he said.
"There's nothing worse than being in Cardiff when Wales have won if you're Irish... there's nothing worse.
"In sport it's the worst place... they (Wales) are the worst winners."
The feed with O'Driscoll then resumed with the presenter putting to O'Driscoll there's nothing worse for an Irish rugby fan than being in Cardiff after a Wales win.
O'Driscoll responded: "It's different though as we (the players) are not out on the street.
"I do think because of the history, and Gats drove it into his players that Ireland was the big game.
"Sam Warburton spoke about it a while ago, about the perceived animosity between Wales and England was nothing to what they felt when they came over and played us, or when we played them in Cardiff.
"I think feeling was probably mutual. We had plenty of big games against them as well.
"They probably got the better of us in the big games - the Grand Slam in '05, they beat us in the quarter-final of the World Cup in 2011.
"There's some pretty big moments in games and thankfully we did get one up on them in 2009."
Rather than losing to England being the worst feeling, O'Driscoll said: "It definitely felt it was probably more difficult to stomach against Wales."
