By around 4.30 tomorrow afternoon we will all be more informed about the participants in this, the last, Five Nations Championship. It is perhaps appropriate that a competition that has graced the scene during most of this century should end in the last year of the last decade of the century.
While the championship started officially in 1883 - and England won it and the Triple Crown - in fact Ireland did not play Wales that season. It was not until France entered the fold in the first decade of this century that it became a five-nations series and it stayed that way until 1931 after which the French were expelled from the series for rough play and a violation of amateurism.
But the French returned in 1947 and what an impression they have made since they came back. Italy will enter the fold next season to make it a six-nation series and we must welcome their advent to the competition. They have earned the right to annual participation. Tomorrow England play Scotland at Twickenham, while no more than a few miles away Ireland will be breaking new ground by meeting Wales in Wembley Stadium.
We will know more about England after that entanglement with the Scots as this, of course, will be England's opening engagement. The Scots go into the match with their confidence bolstered by their win over Wales a fortnight ago. It was an unexpected victory but it was deserved.
Obviously the Welsh performance that afternoon was of most interest to Ireland bearing in mind the match tomorrow. Wales looked anything but a good side against the Scots in a match that lacked quality in many areas. The Welsh tight forwards frankly were poor. One other thing that seemed apparent was that towards the end of the match there was also a spiritual failure by the Welsh. Certainly on the evidence produced at Murrayfield there was nothing there to strike fear and trepidation in our hearts.
But that point having been made, having lost their opening match just like Ireland, the Welsh will know just as well as Ireland that the match at Wembley is crucial. A loss for either side means that the rest of the championship is for them a damage limitation exercise, a role in which both countries have been cast too often in recent years.
A win for Ireland would be a huge lift both in tangible and psychological terms. It will keep Irish Triple Crown hopes very much alive and send a little tremor through the England camp prior to their visit to Lansdowne Road a fortnight tomorrow.
Should Scotland win at Twickenham it will be a surprise and bring a whole new perspective to the championship. For the Scots to beat England they will have to do something they have not done since 1983. That was the last time they won at Twickenham. Furthermore they have lost their last nine matches against England with the most recent win being recorded at Murrayfield in 1990 in the championship. Their current nine-match losing sequence - including the World Cup semi-final of 1991 - is the worst the Scots have had to endure since the countries first met in 1871 in the first international ever played.
In contrast to Scotland's very poor away record against England, Ireland's away record against Wales has been remarkable. The last time Wales won at home against Ireland was by coincidence also in 1983.
BUT it is Wembley Stadium and not the Arms Park that Ireland must visit this time. This has been Wales's temporary home during the reconstruction of the Arms Park. It has not proved a very fertile area for Wales. They have played there four times and their record is lost three and won one. Their only win in Wembley was against Scotland last season and that was rather fortunate.
Wembley is arguably the world's greatest sporting theatre with a wonderful history. It has been the venue for the FA Cup final since 1923, has been the venue for the Olympic Games (1948) and the World Soccer Cup final (1966) - and sporting events do not come any bigger than those - the European Cup final and World title fights. Truly it can be said of Wembley that it is a theatre of dreams. So the Ireland players tomorrow get a unique opportunity to play at this famous old ground. They will remember it all of their lives and let us hope their experience there will evoke happy memories for them in the years ahead.
While Ireland and Wales have met in the World Cup in Wellington in 1987 and Ellis Park in 1995, only once previously has Ireland played a match in the International Championship at a neutral venue. One has to go back to the last century for the only other occasion. As circumstances should have it, that was also against Wales.
The match was played in Birkenhead on March 12th 1877. The reason for that makes interesting reading in this professional era. No on-ground logos then to raise a few pounds and so acute were the IRFU financial problems that they could not afford the cost of sending a team to play in South Wales. The Welsh agreed to play in Birkenhead and the Irish party travelled directly by boat to the English venue thus cutting down train travel and overnight hotel accommodation costs.
Earlier that season Ireland had scored their greatest win in international rugby when they beat England for the first time. That famous victory was recorded at Lansdowne Road by two goals to nil. However Triple Crown hopes were dashed by the Scots who won easily in Belfast.
Ireland lost in Birkenhead, although scoring three tries while Wales scored one and a dropped goal. Under today's scoring values Ireland would have won, but under the scoring values that obtained at the time when a successful kick was of greater value than tries, Ireland conceded defeat. It was, nonetheless a great occasion for Ireland wing Robert Montgomery who became the first Irishman to score three tries in an international.
Let us hope kicking deficiencies will not prove costly for Ireland tomorrow. With Niall Woods now in the team, would it not be prudent to allow him to do the kicking and free David Humphreys from the task. Wales have the most prolific kicker currently in international rugby in Neil Jenkins. He has done us some damage in his time. He has scored 683 points in international rugby and only Michael Lynagh has bettered that.
And I will end with a question. Who was the last Irish rugby international to play in a match at Wembley Stadium?
