Wales head to Dublin as underdogs again, having not won a Six Nations match in almost three years
Wales great Jamie Roberts says Steve Tandy’s side are working towards claiming a major scalp and believes they could run Ireland close in Dublin on Friday night.
Despite a much-improved performance against Scotland last time out, Tandy’s men head to the Aviva Stadium as major underdogs, having not won a Six Nations match in three years. Ireland, meanwhile, come into the game off the back of a record 42-21 away win against England, with Andy Farrell’s side running riot in a superb display at Twickenham.
As a result, Wales – who suffered heavy defeats to England and France before running Scotland close in Cardiff – have been widely written off ahead of Friday’s clash.
But Roberts has been encouraged by what he has seen from Tandy’s side and, while he can’t quite see Wales pulling off a major upset, he doesn’t expect there to be much in it come the full-time whistle in Dublin.
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“I think it’s going to be a one-score game,” the 94-cap international told the Ireland Rugby Social podcast. “I think Ireland sneak it, 2012 is the last time Wales won there.
“I want to see Wales improve on their performance against Scotland and I’m confident they will.
“But I just think Ireland now, because they’ve got a sniff of silverware [the Triple Crown], they are going to be super motivated for this. I’m going to go Ireland 26-20 Wales.”
Former Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray, on co-hosting duties with Gavin Andrews, plumped for a slightly more convincing margin of victory for Farrell’s side, predicting a 36-24 win for the hosts.
Roberts added that he was confident that Wales would be able to end their dismal losing run before too long, claiming that “the scalp is coming”.
However, with an impressive Italy side last up for Wales, whether that result comes during the Six Nations or not remains to be seen.
“We’ve seen the way Wales are going to play moving forward, especially coming up to the World Cup next year,” the former British & Irish Lions centre said.
“A bit like the great Ireland sides of recent years, a lot of ball movement, running lines, decoy shape, quick ball and trying to go multi-phase. They showed some great stuff against Scotland and deserved to win it.
“The scalp is coming,” he added. “It’s just a question of when and if it’s going to be in this tournament.”
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