Ireland v Wales/Past Meetings: A trawl through the recent history of Ireland-Wales clashes underlines the extent of Irish dominance over their Welsh counterparts in the Heineken European Cup and, until recently, the Celtic League until a sequence of five successive wins was interrupted last year, writes Gerry Thornley, Rugby Correspondent
Admittedly, there was a compelling, almost unstoppable force with Wales on that sun-kissed, climactic day as they sought their first Grand Slam in 27 years - the feeling that Ireland, who by the end looked weary and overtly constrained, would ultimately be unable to live with the Welsh when they moved up a gear or two to the brand of high-tempo recycling and offloading that had beaten all comers until that point.
In truth, they too appeared afflicted by stage fright on their big day, but they were helped into a 19-6 interval lead by Ireland's indiscipline and lack of composure, and a scraggy drop goal by Gavin Henson merely reinforced the palpable feeling the Welsh had a date with destiny.
After two more Stephen Jones penalties, Tom Shanklin smashed into Brian O'Driscoll in a seismic moment, the Welsh pack mauled off a Brent Cockbain take and Michael Owen took off, all this culminating in Shanklin straightening through a gap between David Humphreys and Kevin Maggs for Kevin Morgan to score.
By the hour mark, Ireland were 29-6 down, their defence having been regularly shredded by a brand of rugby that was beyond them, despite a creditable late rally. Yet for years prior to this, Wales had been beaten out the gate, as much by Ireland's forward power as the cutting edge of O'Driscoll, Geordan Murphy, Gordon D'Arcy and co.
The first of five successive wins came in the rearranged game of the 2001 championship - Ireland's first visit of the Millennium to the Millennium Stadium - the original tie had been one of three Irish games postponed because of foot-and-mouth.
Ireland had been caught cold on a warm September's day by Scotland and came to Wales with changes in personnel and low on confidence, but for which they would possibly have pulled clear sooner as they maintained a remarkable unbeaten run in the Welsh capital dating back to 1985.
By the end, they were pulling away, and by the time the sides met again the following March, both had changed coaches. There was a buoyancy and purpose about Eddie O'Sullivan's first game in charge, and a hapless Wales were torn to shreds, up front, through the middle, out wide - everywhere bar the toss.
The game was notable not only for Peter Clohessy's 50th cap but also for debut tries by Paul O'Connell - who remembered nothing about it after a blow to the head - and the late replacement Keith Gleeson.
Admittedly, it was Ireland's turn to suffer stage fright in 2003, when they went to Cardiff to face a Welsh team seeking to avoid the wooden spoon in what was Ireland's penultimate step toward a putative Grand Slam.
Having fallen behind moving into injury time, Ireland needed a restart chase by Malcolm O'Kelly and a nerveless drop goal by Ronan O'Gara to snatch a slightly fortuitous win.
The least momentous of these wins was the World Cup warm-up in August 2003, though it served one particularly useful purpose in that it marked Keith Wood's return after missing the whole of the 2001-2002 season because of shoulder reconstruction. He admitted he'd been sucking diesel by the time of his 67th-minute withdrawal and that of his five missed lineout throws one resulted from his making a call that no longer existed, which, as he said, "makes it rather difficult to win the ball back."
Wales, nowhere near full-strength and unrecognisable from the team that would come alight in the World Cup, withstood Ireland's mauling game well, but repeated penalties to the corners for short-range lineouts ultimately yielded two tries. All five Irish tries were scored by forwards and, significantly, two were finished off by O'Connell.
The Irish mauling game overpowered a powder-puff Welsh pack even more emphatically the following February as a springboard to a first Triple Crown in 19 years, scattering the Welsh eight in rumbling in within a minute of the kick-off to yield the first of two tries and a rare man-of-the-match award for Shane Byrne.
Llanelli's Gareth Jenkins is surely not alone in suspecting Ireland won't have the same power up front this time, all the more so with O'Connell ruled out, but this hardly compares with Wales's own extraordinary problems.
There are so many psychological imponderables going into this game it's hard to predict. Wales could be anything - and most likely will be either inspired or implode under pressure.
But, that one blip apart, the force has been with Ireland, and in the last three home games, Ireland have scored 125 points and conceded 37, with a try ratio of 17 to five.
IRELAND WELL AHEAD: the balance of power since 2001
SATURDAY, MARCH 19th, 2005, MILLENNIUM STADIUM
WALES 32 IRELAND 20: Wales secured a first Grand Slam in 27 years, pulling clear with a high-tempo third quarter that Ireland, looking stale and over-structured, couldn't live with. A late rally was never going to prevent one helluva Welsh party.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd, 2004, LANSDOWNE ROAD
IRELAND 36 WALES 15: The first leg of Ireland's Triple Crown. Notions of a rejuvenated Wales providing a close contest lasted all of 59 seconds, by which stage the pack had motored rather than mauled over the line from 30 metres.
AUGUST 16th, 2004, LANSDOWNE ROAD
IRELAND 35 WALES 12: A low-key World Cup warm-up win, illuminated by a barnstorming, two-try performance by Paul O'Connell, a dynamic effort by half-time replacement David Wallace and the return after a 14 month absence of Keith Wood.
SATURDAY, MARCH 22nd, 2003, MILLENNIUM STADIUM
WALES 24 IRELAND 25: Wales, facing a whitewash, swung from the hip and scared the living daylights out of Ireland, with Ronan O'Gara's late drop goal and Denis Hickie's chargedown earning a winner-takes-all Grand Slam showdown with England.
SUNDAY, MARCH 3rd, 2002, LANSDOWNE ROAD
IRELAND 54 WALES 10: In Eddie O'Sullivan's first match in charge and Peter Clohessy's 50th test, the Welsh challenge peaked when they won the toss - and elected to have second use of the wind, by which stage they were 24-3 down, including a debut try for O'Connell.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 13th, 2001, MILLENNIUM STADIUM
WALES 6 IRELAND 36: Nothing too fancy from Ireland, confidence dented by the previous rearranged defeat in Murrayfield; the pack containing their Welsh counterparts in a vice-like grip before pulling clear with a couple of late tries.
