Gatland knows he has to deliver

There's a bad smell to this one. Virtually the first question asked of both Graham Henry and Warren Gatland yesterday was whether they felt under pressure. Well, if you're continually asked whether you're under pressure, it becomes a virtual self-fulfilling prophecy but amidst this media-generated backdrop it's worth noting the winners of today's re-arranged Six Nations match in Cardiff will actually scale the dizzying heights of second place in the championship.

In the case of Wales, a runners-up placing would constitute their best finish since 1994, and given such a final placing would be Ireland's best finish in 16 years you'd have thought Gatland and co might be in greater danger from the risk of vertigo than a firing squad.

But there you have it, a reflection on our times, perhaps, and both coaches were good-naturedly attempting to deflect the attention on to each other in their eve-of-match press conferences yesterday.

"Well I think Warren is under a bit of pressure," said Henry at pitchside in the sun-kissed, unseasonally warm Millennium Stadium yesterday, winking at the cameras. "No, he's a good mate, a good guy. This is just another game, a very serious international Test match between two countries. They're all very important. I'm not feeling any more pressure today than I feel normally before a Test match. It's a good feeling."

Asked first off if he felt under pressure at a lunchtime press conference in their city centre hotel following a training session in the University of Cardiff, Gatland laughed. "An easy one to start me off with. Thanks. I'm not thinking about myself being under pressure. We were all disappointed with the performance against Scotland. We had a good meeting during the week. Players were very honest and we as a management put up our hands and said 'we made a couple of mistakes and we think we'll rectify a few things," and as a team we don't think we could play any worse than we played against Scotland. So for all of us it's chance to rectify things and get back to where we were six months ago. As for myself, all coaches are under a bit of pressure. I'm sure Graham is under a bit of pressure here in Wales," he said, tongue-in-cheek. "It's just part of the job."

Of course, it was one thing losing to the Scots, quite another to do so in the lifeless manner that Ireland did. There's no doubt the scale of that defeat provided a severe psychological jolt to the Irish management and players. The key to today's outcome most probably lies in how they've reacted mentally. According some players, the honesty sessions earlier in the week could hardly have been more candid. After the rude Murrayfield awakening, when they were unable to resume from where they had left off the previous February, they'll possibly cut their cloth a little too.

"A very high level of discipline," was the first factor Keith Wood highlighted yesterday in stating what was required. "We'll need to keep the ball for large periods of time and not be overly expansive. You don't take a view of form from six months ago, but we're not really pulling back from our expansive game."

There's still something disconcerting about the drastic changes to the starting line-up, if less so the squad, though the enforced reinstatement of Malcolm O'Kelly looks like a blessing. "There's a spring in his step," according to Irish manager Brian O'Brien.

While the porous nature of the Irish midfield in Murrayfield cannot be laid wholly at Shane Horgan, the recall of Kevin Maggs should help shore things up. Henry's coaching philosophy very much revolves around a target runner, say a number eight α la Scott Quinnell or an inside centre α la Scott Gibbs _ whose roles are now inherited by Geraint Lewis and Leigh Davies, to take first phase ball quickly over the gain line and start from there. Stymie them at source and you should be most of the way there.

Wales themselves are an even bigger unknown quantity, given there are 10 changes in their starting line-up to the side which beat Italy in their most recent championship outing - one ( Gibbs) due to retirement and seven due to injury. Given the somewhat unhealthy backdrop and the fixture's timing (as in Edinburgh, there wasn't a replica jersey to be seen yesterday) it would be no surprise if this match wasn't a cracker. At least it shouldn't plumb the depths of the last Ireland-Wales seasonal "hangover", when the re-arranged game of 1962 - deferred to the following autumn due to an outbreak of smallpox in Wales - ended in a stale 3-3 draw.

Even though 11 of this Irish side started in the home defeat to Wales last year, it still looks good enough to win and, being Irish, Ireland should benefit from Scotland's kick in the butt. "You can't rely on those Scots to do anything well, can you?" quipped Henry. "They'll be on edge now, the Irish, after that game in Scotland. But they went in there with all expectations on them, and they found that difficult. There were no expectations on the Scots, they could relax and they played particularly well."

He could well have a point, for Ireland should be a more dangerous animal three weeks on. Whether they'll still be carrying the scars or have soothed the wounds will only become apparent from 3.00 onwards, and the sooner to 3.00 they score the better.