Lineout will be crucial, insists Wales boss

Wales coach Warren Gatland believes the lineout battle will be 'a massive part' of Saturday's RBS 6 Nations clash against Ireland in Dublin.

Luke Charteris and Bradley Davies will form Wales' fourth different second-row partnership in this season's tournament, and Matthew Rees becomes their third hooker in four games after Gareth Williams and Huw Bennett.

Injuries have been a major cause of such chopping and changing, but the statistics also indicate worrying lineout problems.

Wales have lost a total of 11 lineouts on their own throw during the Six Nations so far, winning just one against the throw.

Contrast that with Ireland's superb return of stealing 14 opposition lineouts and losing only two on their own ball, and it underlines Wales' task.

Gatland acknowledged: 'The lineout is going to be a massive part of the game.

'The Irish locks (Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan) are very comfortable if you kick the ball out.

'They have won between 30-40% of opposition lineouts, they compete and disrupt and they are more than happy with teams kicking the ball out.

'It's going to be huge for our locks, and we need to be more accurate. (Flanker) Jonathan Thomas is settling back in and calling the lineouts, and Matthew Rees gives us accuracy and confidence.'

Charteris, recalled for his first Wales start since the England game on 6 February, added: 'Ireland have got a good lineout.

'You can't take that away from them, but Bradley and I complement one another quite well.

'Bradley is a big, powerful ball-carrier and I try to get around the field, too. But we can't worry about them too much, we've been focusing on getting ourselves 100% and hopefully we can put pressure on them as well.'

Wales captain Martyn Williams, meanwhile, believes patience will be critical when his team aim to ambush Ireland's Triple Crown ambitions.

Wales head to Croke Park with flanker Williams at the helm after regular captain Ryan Jones was sidelined by a calf muscle injury.

In all three of their games so far - against England, Scotland and latterly title favourites France - Wales have found themselves alarmingly adrift on the scoreboard.

At Twickenham they trailed England 20-3, against Scotland it was 21-9, and France built a 20-0 interval lead helped by the generosity of two interception tries.

While Wales ultimately ran England and France close, only in the Scotland game did they fight back to win, albeit with a couple of converted touchdowns during injury time.

Cardiff Blues star Williams said: 'I don't think we are playing badly.

'But we haven't helped ourselves, particularly early on in games, which is well-documented.

'If we play with a little bit of control early on, we are confident we can cause sides problems.

'You have got to be patient at international level because defences are so good.'