Bullish Wales aiming to spoil the party in Dublin

Wales were impressed by their surroundings on Monday afternoon as they took in all that Aviva Stadium has to offer.

Manager Rhian Wilkinson and her captain Angharad James-Turner both described the venue as being "beautiful", but make no mistake, they're here to ruin the view for the majority of the 25,000-plus expected to attend tomorrow night.

Wilkinson is an assured, confident presence who's tapped into Wales' hunger to make a first ever major tournament. Having sized the Republic of Ireland up in Friday's Euro 2025 play-off first leg, which ended 1-1, the Canadian downplayed suggestions Eileen Gleeson's team now have the edge.

"I think it's beholden to the coach of the home nation to talk about the massive advantage of having a home crowd," said Wilkinson in reference to Gleeson's view that Ireland will benefit from the power of a Lansdowne roar.

"Equally there is a huge pressure on you at home with a home crowd, just trying to get behind their team. And that is a pressure that’s on them. You love playing at home in front of your fans, but equally we’re excited to be here.

"It’s a fabulous stadium. It will be a great team stepping out for Ireland but the pressure will be on them, which is always a good thing for me and our team."

"We are excited about it"

Those sort of mind games are par for the course when the stakes are this high. However Wilkinson's belief that her team can prevail on Irish soil is genuine.

Asked if, at the start of the year she would have taken a match against Ireland to potentially make the Euros, she replied: "Yes. (My) first time meeting the team was in Ireland last February). (Eileen) was experimenting, she had a different roster, a different structure. The same thing for Wales.

"I think we refer back