Richard Hibbard

Ireland deftly avoided the dangers as Wales fell into all the pitfalls

Ireland looked weeks, if not months, ahead of Wales in almost every facet

Slick Ireland show their greater strength in depth

Impressive display bore hallmarks of a squad well-coached by Joe Schmidt

Ireland ease to impressive warm-up win over ragged Wales

O’Donnell and Trimble injuries mar dominant showing from Schmidt’s men in Cardiff

Ireland back to business with first warm-up match against Wales

World Cup hopefuls get opportunity to seize moment in front of capacity crowd

Four debutants on Wales side to play Ireland in warm-up

Ross Moriarty, Tyler Morgan, Eli Walker and Dominic Day all make their first starts

Nine uncapped players in Wales World Cup training squad

Warren Gatland has included 13 foreign-based players in 47-man party

Gloucester defeat Edinburgh to claim European Challenge Cup

Billy Twelvetrees’s side revives Champions Cup qualification hopes at the expense of Sale and Harlequins

Mils Muliaina needs to deliver as Connacht face daunting task

Fullback returns after injury-broken season for Challenge Cup quarter-final

Mils Muliaina and Robbie Henshaw return for Connacht

Ireland Six Nations hero Henshaw takes number 12 shirt for trip to Gloucester

How Ireland have closed the gap on the superpowers of world rugby

Schmidt’s men boast a level of mutual understanding that is helping them outperform rivals

Wales forced into two changes for Italy clash

Frontrow crisis means Aaron Jarvis and uncapped Rob Evans start against strong Italy pack

Ireland to receive Six Nations replica trophy if triumphant

Real mccoy will be at Twickenham meaning Wales would go trophyless until Sunday

Italian injuries may hurt Ireland’s title chances

Ireland have a clean bill of health but Italy may miss their captain Sergio Parisse

Wales prop Samson Lee forced out of Scotland tie

Frontrow was unable to complete final component of return to play protocols

Topic of concussion raises its head again after opening weekend

Ireland wait on Rory Best but no return to training until protocol fulfilled

World Rugby accepts WRU explanation of George North concussion

Player should have come off but WRU cleared of blame as new prevention measures announced

Old familiar faces with a sprinkling of new the likely recipe for Italian coach Jacques Brunel

Search for the right balance and an improvement in offensive efficiency a must for Italy

Gatland angling for a psychological edge

Picking side early gives the Wales coach freedom to speculate on England’s line-up

Gareth Anscombe named in Wales Six Nations squad

James Hook and Adam Jones excluded signalling the end of their international careers

Munster must adjust as Allianz Park poses own challenges

Saracens home pitch one of the obstacles in next European Champions Cup clash

Gethin Jenkins returns for Wales as they face ‘physical battle’ with South Africa

Gatland makes three changes in search of landmark victory over the Springboks

Wales welcome back Jonathan Davies for All Black clash

Centre will reslume his potent partnership with fellow Lion, Jamie Roberts

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