Jiffy: Two men will be crucial against Ireland but I’m still not sure what Wales want

Wales legend Jonathan Davies gives his thoughts on the Test against Ireland in Dublin on Friday

10:30, 05 Mar 2026

Wales improved significantly against Scotland but taking on Ireland in Dublin will be a far tougher proposition.

It is difficult to see Wales winning this game but they need to show signs of further improvement. The target for Wales has to be beating Italy on the final weekend of the championship so it is vitally important they are not blown away in Dublin and put in a respectable performance.

They’ve got to get their defence and line speed sorted because Ireland will attack from set-pieces, which is where we struggled against Scotland.

Once Ireland got on the front foot, their ruck speed and recycling was fantastic against England.

Wales have got to try to slow down the ball somehow or it is going to be a very, very long night at the office.

James Botham will have a big role to play in slowing down Ireland’s ball. He made a few positive turnovers against Scotland.

Offensively, Wales have got to offer something and they’ve got to get over the gain-line.

The set-piece has got to be good and to be fair it was a lot better against Scotland.

They’ve got to keep their discipline because they’ve got to limit the number of times Ireland enter the Welsh 22.

It will be a big night for Dan Edwards who gets an opportunity to bounce back after being dropped for the Scotland game.

Edwards has got to kick accurately and find a way of getting the attack firing.

It is very difficult because at the moment I don’t really understand what the 10-12 axis is trying to do.

Do we want our number 12 to be a ball player, or do we want him to carry the ball over the gain-line?

I think at the minute they look like they are not sure what they want to do because Joe Hawkins didn’t carry much ball against Scotland and he didn’t target Finn Russell.

We also didn’t use him in the kicking game so I’m thinking: what is the difference between him and Ben Thomas?

I don’t know what they are trying to achieve there so it will be very interesting to see what Matt Sherratt is trying to do.

I’d have thought moving Eddie James to 12 would have been the key because he played 10 for most of his younger career so he must be able to kick.

I’m excited to see what Louie Hennessey will bring from the bench because he is an exciting player who could offer something different in attack.

But it all depends on how much ball the backs get and whether they can get on the front foot.

It will ramp up again because I think Ireland are a physically stronger side than Scotland. This is a game where they’ve got to go to Dublin, keep their discipline, hold onto possession and go through the phases but the defence has got to be a lot better.

Ireland are more efficient and execute plays better than anyone. If they are on the front foot and getting quick ball then they will attack the Welsh defence on the outer channels.

They will try to hold the 10 and 12 so that they can’t push and then they’ll try to bring the Ireland full-back, Jamie Osborne, into the game.

The Irish backrow of Caelan Doris, Nick Timoney and Jack Conan is a hell of a ball-carrying backrow.

Wales have got to stop this backrow from getting over the gain-line, otherwise it is going to be a really long day at the office.

Jamison Gibson-Park will be controlling the pace of the game so Wales have got to have a plan to deal with him.

They’ve also got Stuart McCloskey to carry in midfield and he’ll definitely target Edwards, so he has got to front up.

The back-three of Osborne, Jacob Stockdale and Robert Baloucoune are also very dangerous if put on the front foot. There’s a lot of pace there.

But it’s the power of the Irish backrow which worries me the most.

We’ve got to try to stop them making easy yardage while staying disciplined because they can’t afford to lose any players to the sin bin.

It is going to be very difficult for Wales to control all of that.

This is backs-against-the-wall stuff for Wales but they’ve just got to focus on improving on their performance against Scotland.

They’ve got to show more in attack because against Scotland apart from Sam Costelow putting Josh Adams over we were looking at the pick and drive as the main form of attack.

Let’s just hope Wales can build on the Scotland performance.

The Jonathan show airs at 9pm on Thursday night on S4C. Join Jonathan, Nigel, Sarra and Lloyd for another fun-filled programme as they welcome their guests Ifan Phillips, Mari Beard and Meilir Rhys Williams to the studio.