More importantly, it would give them victory over a team ranked higher than them in the World Rankings and give them the perfect opportunity to remain on course for their best Championship finish since last winning the title in 1994.
Ieuan Evans was the skipper in that season and the man who stands one try away from his national record of thirty-three tries, Gareth Thomas, was a year away from making the first of his seventy-three caps. A winner with Wales at Lansdowne Road in 2000, he believes the current Wales side is moving in the right direction.
“This is probably the best Wales Squad I’ve been involved with in terms of attitude and belief in each other, I’ve been around for quite a long time now,” said the Celtic Warriors skipper. “Perhaps we don’t have the big names or star players of previous Wales teams in this squad, but we have something we haven’t had before. That’s reflected in the way we play the game.
“Even last season, when we lost ten games in a row and were whitewashed in the RBS Six Nations, I could see the potential was there for this group of players to develop into a successful side. It’s hard to put your finger on it, or to explain it, but I could feel we had something very special going on.
“Steve Hansen deserves to take a lot of the credit for what has happened. Graham Henry was a superb coach, although he dropped me a couple of times, but the difference with Steve is I can approach and speak to him in a way I couldn’t do with Graham.
“It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me over the past nine years with Wales, but my aim is to be part of a very successful Wales team and to help move us up a few rungs on the Test ladder.
“We are standing on the verge of something very special with this side. What we have to do is grab the opportunity that is ahead of us with both hands.”
A first opening day victory in the Championship in seven seasons against the Scots last weekend, 23-10, was an encouraging start, but Thomas and company will go into the game in Dublin on Sunday as underdogs. Thomas is expecting to be fully tested in his new role at full back, but has a warning for Brian O’Driscoll’s men.
“I’m expecting a few bombs from Ronan O’Gara, but that could work two ways. It could benefit Ireland if I drop the ball, or it could be good for us by giving us the chance to counter attack,” he said. “We aren’t a negative side. We like to be positive, as we showed against the Scots. I think they will have to be very careful in their tactical approach.
“A number of this team have played in a winning side at Lansdowne Road before and we will have the same back three as four years ago, although on that occasion Rhys Williams was a full back.”
Wales Coach, Steve Hansen, made four changes to the side that beat the Scots for the trip to Ireland. Skipper Colin Charvis stood down because of his dislocated finger and Jonathan Thomas has taken over his blindside role in the back row.
Scarlets front row men, Iestyn Thomas and Robin McBryde, have replaced Duncan Jones and Mefin Davies, while Rob Sidoli has been declared fit to resume in the second row ahead of Gareth Llewellyn.
“It’s going to be a different type of game to the one against the Scots. We will be playing against a side that’s far more experienced and used to being successful,” said Hansen. “They will have a different approach to the Scots. They may look to put up the Garryowens, but that could provide us with good possession to run back at them. We have plenty of faith in our back three.
“We’ve only made one tactical change to the team because we’ve got players who were number one choices coming back to full fitness. People keep talking about what happened years ago, but we aren’t responsible for what’s happened in the past. We are looking to create our own history.
“If we can improve on our wide running game then that will suit us. We have to get our set pieces right and last week against Scotland we only got 80 percent right. That was due to a bit of rustiness. We have to be sharper this weekend because we are playing against a better pack.”
