Ireland vs Wales Prediction and Betting Tips: Welsh can make hosts work for victory
It doesn’t get any tougher than a trip to the Aviva Stadium but that’s just what awaits Wales on Saturday as they face Six Nations Grand Slam hopefuls Ireland.
A youthful Wales squad head to Dublin after back-to-back defeats in the opening two rounds but they only lost to Scotland and England by a total of three points.
While Warren Gatland’s side might well head back across the Irish Sea empty-handed, they have the ability to cause Ireland more problems than some might anticipate.
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Starting with the hosts, Ireland will welcome back skipper Peter O’Mahony after he sat out the win against Italy last time out.
Ciaran Frawley is in for the injured Hugo Keenan as the one change from the side that beat France in Marseille in the opening game of the tournament.
As for the visitors, Wales boss Gatland has made just the one change to his starting XV from the side that suffered a 16-14 defeat at Twickenham last time out.
It’s an important change too, with Sam Costelow returning at fly-half, with Ioan Lloyd dropping down to the bench.
There is also one change on the bench, with uncapped Cardiff number eight Mackenzie Martin set to make his debut after replacing Taine Basham in the matchday squad.
Ireland XV: Frawley; Nash, Henshaw, Aki, Lowe; Crowley, Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong; McCarthy, Beirne; O'Mahony (capt), Van der Flier, Doris.
Replacements: Kelleher, Healy, Jager, Ryan, Baird, Conan, Murray, McCloskey.
Wales XV: Winnett; Adams, North, Tompkins, Dyer; Costelow, Tomos Williams; G Thomas, Dee, Assiratti, Jenkins (capt), Beard, Mann, Reffell, Wainwright.
Replacements: Elias, Domachowski, D Lewis, Rowlands, M Martin, Hardy, I Lloyd, Grady.
Ireland vs Wales Tips
Wales were underdogs for their opening two games of the tournament against Scotland in Cardiff and England in London but ran both those sides close.
Gatland’s side were not at the races in the first-half against Scotland but stormed back into the contest to just fall to a 27-26 defeat.
Wales might also be left wondering about what might have been after giving up a lead to lose 16-14 at Twickenham.
This young side have shown they can keep themselves in games coming into the final moments of Test matches and could even be heading into this contest on the back of two wins, were it not for Scotland and England having the experienced players to just get over the line.
Ireland should run out winners on Saturday but expect Wales to put up a fight and fall on the right side of a generous +22 handicap in the process.
Leading the tryscorer standings after the first two rounds, Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan will be looking to add to his three tries for the tournament this weekend.
Dynamic in open play and a real threat in an attacking lineout supported by a brutally efficient pack, Sheehan is certainly worth considering in the anytime tryscorer market.
Wales will have a job on their hands to stop this Irish pack from close range and Sheehan has the ability to pop over for another try this weekend.
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