Ireland and Wales collide as another huge weekend of Six Nations action continues this weekend.
It was hardly a vintage performance from Andy Farrell’s side on the opening weekend but a resilient performance saw them hold off Scotland and get the win.
Last year’s Grand Slam winners meanwhile laid down a marker themselves as Wales overpowered Italy with a crushing 42-0 win in Cardiff.
Date: Saturday 8 February
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off time: 2:15pm GMT
Team news and line ups
Farrell makes two enforced changes to the Irish side with centre Robbie Henshaw and flanker Peter O’Mahony in for Garry Ringrose and Calean Doris, who drop out after picking up knocks against Scotland.
Max Deegan is in line for his international debut having been named among the replacements.
Ireland: Larmour; Conway, Henshaw, Aki, Stockdale; Sexton, Murray; Healy, Herring, Furlong; Henderson, Ryan; O'Mahony, van der Flier, Stander.
Replacements: Kelleher, Kilcoyne, Porter, Toner, Deegan, Cooney, Byrne, Earls.
Wales meanwhile will be without Liam Williams on Saturday and for the clash against France – although the Scarlets full-back could return against England.
Centre Nick Tompkins has been handed his first Wales start for Saturday with Scarlets wing Johnny McNicholl dropping to the replacements bench.
Wales: Leigh Halfpenny; George North, Nick Tompkins, Hadleigh Parkes, Josh Adams; Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Dillon Lewis, Jake Ball, Alun Wyn Jones (capt), Aaron Wainwright, Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Rhys Carre, Leon Brown, Adam Beard, Ross Moriarty, Gareth Davies, Owen Williams, Johnny McNicholl.
Prediction: Wales win
Ireland will need to be a lot better against the Welsh with their defensive line holding off a Scottish fightback at the Aviva.
Wales’ enormous win over Italy should see them enter as slight favourites.
Betting odds
- Ireland to win: 4/6
- Wales to win: 13/8
- Draw: 25/1
Odds provided by Betfair Exchange. Click here for more odds
TV channel, live stream and online coverage
ITV and the BBC are sharing broadcasting rights for the Six Nations once again this year, with ITV hosting Scotland vs England on ITV1 and the ITV Hub.
You can also follow all the action with Standard Sport's LIVE blog.
Head to Head record and history (h2h)
Wales have won 69 of the 129 meetings between these two sides with Ireland claiming 53. There have been seven matches drawn.
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