Wales and Lions legend Graham Price looks ahead to Friday night’s match between Ireland and Wales
10:15, 03 Mar 2026
Wales take on Ireland on Friday night(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)
For many years, thoughts of a Six Nations battle with Ireland carried more than an element of optimism for Welsh fans. These days, realism comes first.
You don’t write about the history and rivalry of Wales v Ireland any more without starting with facts. This is still a team in transition that is rebuilding after being battered by recent results. They are under no illusions about the task that faces them at the Aviva Stadium on Friday evening.
Yet, as any true Welsh supporter will tell you, the scoreboard never tells the whole story. It seldom does in matches between these two proud nations.
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In years to come the history books will only tell the story of last week’s Scotland win. However, nothing can take away from Wales’ revitalised performance. In the first two rounds we were convincingly beaten by England and France but against Scotland we had a chance to win right up until the last minute.
There were long stretches in that Scotland game where Wales looked like the team they desperately want to be.
However, more importantly, it offered an indication of what the team could achieve again if they were to stay the full course.
That is notable progress from where they have been in recent years.
Wales were better against Scotland – but ultimately still fell short(Image: Getty Images)
For 80 minutes, the Wales team and supporters recreated something that had been absent for far too long – the result of the game was actually in their hands.
When you think about it, how long has it been since a scoreline was so close that the awarding of a disputed try would have made any difference to the eventual result?
Despite the agony of not being able to hang on to a commanding 15-point lead with 30 minutes to go, Wales rediscovered something that had been missing in recent seasons.
It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t completely successful. However, it was a foundation.
The challenge now is to make it a structured part of our game plan against Ireland, rather than a short-lived exercise.
The Aviva Stadium, in Dublin, is the sort of away trip that will ask more questions of Wales than Scotland did at the Principality Stadium.
To be blunt, Ireland are powerful, settled and playing at home. They will be without James Lowe for the remainder of the tournament, but as was proved against England, they have the depth of ability out wide to accommodate that loss.
Ireland’s strengths are well documented. Their clinical control of territory, their low error rates and a back division capable of exploiting even slight defensive lapses. They are capable of creating problems for any defence, particularly one like Wales who are only just rediscovering their confidence.
Obviously, Ireland were well motivated in the England game and, as a consequence, everyone was playing on the top of their game. They had to be to score a record number of points at Twickenham.
They will be similarly motivated to prove that it was not just a one-off.
Likewise, we will also need to build on our Scotland performance.
Under Steve Tandy the rebuilding process has to be pragmatic. However, it is having to be accelerated because we need to play catch-up with the teams who have been under the influence of their own coaches for much longer periods of time.
Wales might not have the most explosive creators on the planet right now, but if the half back partnership employ their kicking game wisely, they will make Ireland work hard for everything.
Unfortunately they will be without Sam Costelow after he made an impressive comeback against Scotland. His replacement will be a straight battle between Dan Edwards and Jarrod Evans.
To be honest, neither has given me the confidence that they are able to to close down a game to secure a victory. Not that I believe that it will be appropriate in this game.
But Tomos Williams and Jamison Gibson-Park will renew their rivalry and this could be a feature of the game. Remember, Williams was pressing hard for the number nine spot in the Lions test team until he was cruelly forced out of the tour. However, Williams will need to up his performance somewhat if he wants to come anywhere near Gibson-Park’s current form.
With the number of Lions they can call on up front, Ireland will have sufficient forward power to cause difficulties if we let them get away with it.
However, I was interested to see Ireland’s problems with the Italian scrum, with Tadhg Furlong in particular being ejected from the top of the scrum in embarrassing fashion.
Consequently, there maybe a potential weakness that we could take advantage of if the appropriate selections are made.
Nicky Smith and Tomas Francis should be chosen to start and Keiron Assiratti is, fortunately, now available to provide much-needed cover on the tighthead.
James Botham deserves to continue at number six following his successful stint as a replacement for Taine Plumtree. His only blemish being to turn his back on Scotland, as did Gabriel Hamer-Webb. in the build up to Graham Darcy’s try. After that embarrassing experience, I can’t see either of them ever making that mistake for the rest of their careers.
The bench is a worry and it will continue to be a weakness as it was against Scotland.
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On paper this game is Ireland’s to lose.
A Welsh victory in Dublin is clearly not the most likely outcome. Not on current form and not with Ireland’s depth of talent and confidence.
But, if Wales play with discipline and if they keep their errors low then, regardless of the outcome, additional foundations will have been laid.
In Dublin, on Friday, Wales’ job isn’t to fear Ireland it’s to earn their respect. You earn that respect by making them fight for every single point.
That will be progress.