Josh van der Flier: Ireland preparing for 'different' Wales

Josh van der Flier says Ireland will prepare to face a "different" Wales when the sides clash in Cardiff on Saturday week.

Simon Easterby's side are top of the Guinness Six Nations table with two wins from two, while Wales parted ways with head coach Warren Gatland on Tuesday following a 14th successive Test defeat against Italy.

Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt will take over for the remaining games, starting with the visit of the back-to-back champions on 22 February.

The Welsh Rugby Union said in a statement on Thursday that assistant Rob Howley remains under contract with them but will not be involved for the rest of the tournament.

"They are a very proud rugby nation and will be disappointed with how they've gone in the last while," Leinster forward Van der Flier told RTÉ Sport.

"Any time I've played any of their individuals, they've had a lot of quality throughout their team.

"It will be sad for them with Gatland going but Wales are always a tough team to play.

"The history and tradition and pride they take in playing for their country is huge so I'll be expecting nothing short of a big performance from them so we'll be prepping for that."

Ireland are massive favourites to beat Wales, who have won just one of the last eight meetings between the teams, but Van der Flier, who won his 70th cap in Sunday's 32-18 win over Scotland, stressed that talk of record winning margins are far from their minds.

Josh van der Flier isn't concerned that Simon Easterby would be interested in the vacant Wales job, while Beibhinn Parsons looks ahead to the upcoming Women's Six Nations which kicks off on 22 March #rterugby pic.twitter.com/KDxXuP7qD4

"We won't really get into that kind of thinking," said the 31-year-old flanker.

"I've played enough