Disrupting Irish attack key to Welsh hopes

Ireland and Wales will face off this weekend as the Guinness Six Nations returns.

Wales remain winless after failing to put full performances together against Scotland and England, and despite signs that their rebuild is well under way, it will take a Gatland miracle for them to get one over on Ireland at the Aviva on Saturday.

If Wales are going to stop the cohesion of Ireland's performances, they’ll have to start with some of the basics.

The Irish lineout struggled in the World Cup, and has obviously been a main area of focus for them as a group. They’ve turned their effectiveness around massively, which is unsurprising with Paul O’ Connell in control there. Ireland have won 26 of their 26 lineouts in the competition so far.

Wales need to make life a lot harder for the Irish hookers and get the likes of Adam Beard in to disrupt the Irish attacking rhythm. South Africa had a good go at taking this source away from Ireland in the World Cup. If you break down some areas where Wales could get some parity, this is one of the key parts of the game where they could create some doubt in the Irish game plan.

Disrupting their setpiece, or at least dictating where Ireland can win clean ball, would have an impact on the launch plays that Ireland use. I believe Ireland will have enough ammunition to overcome that potential disruption, seeing as they had to plan without a highly successful lineout for the World Cup. However, any attack that has to win the ball at the front of the lineout will be less effective than freely winning the ball wherever they want.

Ireland often play off short lineouts to take defensive jumpers out of the opposition set up. It allows less of a challenge in the air and it also gives Ireland more numbers in their