WHILE the Ireland seniorside has laboured in vain in the International Championship this season, in contrast the Under 21, A and Universities teams are unbeaten.

This afternoon all three set out on the glory road yet again, with Wales the obstacle which stands in the way of the Triple Crown for the Under 21 and Universities. The Under 21 match takes place in Wicklow, the Universities meet at College Park.

While those encounters are being played out, the A side will be hoping to build on their win over Scotland in January by winning at Donnybrook, and thus set up a chance of a Triple Crown when they meet England in Richmond in a fortnight.

The clash of matches is unfortunate. But there is likely to be a capacity crowd at Donnybrook to the see the Ireland second string against a Welsh side that lost to Scotland, but which has undergone considerable alteration, with five changes.

The Ireland side is well endowed with experience, with seven internationals. But, on that count, the Welsh have 10 who have been honoured at senior level, even if not three with the vast experience of right wing Richard Wallace, outside half Eric Elwood and second row Neil Francis.

While the Welsh selectors have gone with an unchanged side through the International Championship, not so Ireland. So fluid and unpredictable is the composition of the senior team that good displays today might earn their reward by selection against England at Twickenham.

The level of promotion from the A side since the match against the Scots has been such that five of the players who helped in that win will play tomorrow in the senior team. They are Simon Mason, Niall Woods, David Humphreys, Paul Wallace and Victor Costello.

The Welsh have an all international front row of Chris Loader, Robin McBryde and Spencer John, with two more internationals in the back row: Anthony Gibbs and Stuart Davies.

The Wicklow club's ground could house its biggest attendance to date to see the Ireland Under 21 team against the country who last season foiled Triple Crown ambitions in Cardiff. The Ireland side has played extremely well this season, with a great win over England and, more recently, the victory over Scotland, who ran Wales very close a fortnight ago.

Wales are invariably strong at this level and have two senior internationals in the side, centre Gareth Jones and flanker Craig Quinnell. Quinnell is one of three survivors from the side that beat Ireland 16-9 last March. The other two are prop Lee Manning and second row Steve Ford.

For Ireland, wing Denis Hickie, outside half Fergal Campion, number eight Eric Miller and flanker Kieron Dawson all survive.

As both the Irish and Welsh Universities have beaten their Scots and English counterparts the match at College Park is a Triple Crown decider for both. The needs of the Ireland Under 21 team deprive the Irish side of a few players, but it is still a useful looking team and the incentive is considerable.