Rob Howley’s side are looking to bounce back from defeats to England and Scotland when Joe Schmidt’s men arrive in Cardiff.
The two sides have a history of producing tight, entertaining encounters, with Edwards admitting he is looking forward to another arm wrestle with the men in green.
“Ireland are great rivals of ours. We have had some great tussles with them over the years, so we will be picking our best team to win this game,” Edwards said.
“World Cup rankings are a part of that as well, but it is a Test match against Ireland, so bring it on.
“Ireland came out of the traps slowly against Scotland and paid the price. Since then they have averaged 34 points a game, and scored 41 points to beat the All Blacks back in the autumn.
“I think they are the highest points scorers in the competition at the moment so defensively we have certainly got our hands full. We’re fully aware that it is a huge task, particularly defensively.
“They are the kind of team who keep the ball for long periods. It is very difficult to get the ball back off Ireland.
“They are relentless with their attack and have two excellent half backs.”
Wales face Ireland at a sold-out Principality Stadium on Friday and then travel to Paris to face France the following Saturday.
Taulupe Faletau and Luke Charteris are pushing for starting spots after featuring for Bath against Wasps last weekend, but Edwards wants Wales to improve on the defensive mistakes they made during defeat last time out at Murrayfield.
“”I thought our forwards defended excellently throughout the game, particularly in the first half, but it’s small margins in international rugby,” said the former Wigan rugby league ace.
“One lapse in concentration, particularly on the edge of your defence, can be fatal. We’ve conceded tries on our edge and to score tries you need to have the ball.
“We have turned it over far too much, particularly against Scotland. There were 18 turnovers and I think we also gave away 12 to 14 penalties.
“That is 32 times we gave the opposition the ball, which is obviously way too much.”
