Irish aiming to extend Williams' losing run

Ireland have never managed to string together five victories over Wales, but tomorrow at Lansdowne Road they have the opportunity to accomplish that feat. And if they do so it will leave the Wales acting captain, Martyn Williams, with an unwanted record.

On the four previous occasions that Williams has led the side he has tasted defeat. If the Irish win this Six Nations encounter then it will mean stand-in Williams will join Robert Jones as the Welsh captain with most consecutive defeats.

"Steve Hansen always seems to give me the easy ones - Scotland, France, Australia and New Zealand, all away - and now Ireland. I just hope I can put the run to bed this weekend," Williams said.

The Ireland coach, Eddie O'Sullivan, is certainly not taking victory for granted: "This game will be a battle because we need to accept that Wales have turned the corner. We have to recognise that Wales are a completely different side to the one they were 12 months ago and that has to be good news for rugby." And he is aware, too, that Wales have walked away with victory in the Championship on seven of the last 10 visits to Lansdowne Road. And while Ireland have beaten them four times on the trot, the most recent in August last year should not be brought into the equation since Wales fielded what was largely a second-string team.

O'Sullivan is not treating that record as an indicator of the outcome. "Just because we have beaten Wales the last few times doesn't mean we have any divine right to do so again. We will have to play well to win and if we don't we will come out on the wrong side of the result."

Hansen also has a complete disregard of what has gone on before between the two countries. "I think too much has been played on the past," said the Wales coach. "People keep talking about what happened a few years ago, but that is all irrelevant. This is about creating our own history. We are responsible for our own efforts on Sunday not the efforts of teams prior to us."

Wales will miss Colin Charvis working his socks off in the floorshow at the breakdown as well as his leadership and tackle count. But at least in Jonathan Thomas, who is the Neath-Swansea Ospreys' blindside flanker, they have an able deputy. As raw as Thomas may be, he will still be a handful, especially if he gets into space with ball in hand. But the Wales scrum is likely to be more solid with the reintroduction of the Llanelli Scarlets prop Iestyn Thomas at loosehead, while in the line-out the return of the Celtic Warriors lock Robert Sidoli to receive the throw-ins of the returning Scarlets hooker, Robin McBryde, there is a chance that the Welsh will pose more problems up front than they did against the Scots.

But Ireland have their captain, Brian O'Driscoll, back from injury, albeit in the less familiar role of inside centre to allow for the retention of Gordon D'Arcy, who made such a big impression in Paris last weekend.

O'Driscoll confirmed he has never even experimented as a centre partnership with D'Arcy in training, but he saw enough at the Stade de France to convince him it will work. "It's an exiting prospect," O'Driscoll said of his new partnership. "Gordon is a confidence player and he is brimming with that at the moment. At centre Gordon doesn't have as much time to think about what he is going to do so his natural ability takes over. His footwork is unbelievable and trying to defend against him is very difficult. To get a good hit on him is very tough. Invariably, he breaks the first tackle even if he has very limited space and that creates holes for others."

But if Ireland look dangerous up the middle then Wales have the men out wide to cause mayhem. Hansen promised: "We are going to impose our game-plan of going wide because it is what suits us best. But to impose that, you have to get your set-pieces right, and last week we only got about 80 per cent of what we are capable of doing right. We have to be sharper this week because we are playing a better pack." The Welsh will also have to show they have lost none of the fire that was rekindled against Scotland. And if Wales are truly passionate that fire will take some extinguishing.