Mike Ruddock was the guest on the latest edition of the RTÉ Sport Rugby podcast and Wales’ 2005 Grand Slam-winning coach offered interesting insights into how his preferred line-up for Friday night’s Six Nations clash with Ireland differs from Rob Howley’s.
After his time with Wales and subsequently with Worcester, Ruddock moved to Ireland and was the Ireland Under-20 coach for several seasons.
He has also been an Ulster Bank League-winning coach with Lansdowne, where he is still in charge of the team who currently lead Division 1A of the competition.
Ruddock believes that Friday’s match will be a cracker, but if he was still in charge of his home country, he would have recalled Jamie Roberts, Taulupe Faletau and Luke Charteris.
Wales stand-in coach Howley has in fact named an unchanged team from the side that started in the defeat to Scotland in Round 3.
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“Those are three players there that would make a massive difference,” Ruddock told podcast host Hugh Cahill.
“I would put Jamie straight in. He’s hurting, he’s angry, he’s been on the bench. It’s Lions year. I’d say to him, ‘you’ve had your kick up the backside. Robbie Henshaw is going to be in the Lions unless you get out there today and show what you’re made of’. That would be my pep talk to him.
“The Irish back row is so big and powerful and they’re such big ball carriers that you want the biggest back row you can have against them. I know there’s going to be a fight on the floor as well, but I would have gone for Ross Moriarty at six, Faletau at eight and Warburton at seven.
“It’s more than just the collisions. The bigger guys give you a bigger lift in the lineout, they give you a little more weight in the scrum. Every little 1% really makes a difference.
“I would also have gone for Luke Charteris (in the second row). I coached him at Dragons many years ago and I’ve seen what he can do. I know he’s short of game time but he made a record 31 tackles against Ireland a couple of years ago. He has a great engine and great ability to get low and chop guys down.”
Both Ruddock and RTÉ’S Against The Head editor Wes Liddy found it hard to call the result for Friday, knowing that a wounded Wales would be desperate to get a win in front of their home crowd against an Ireland team who still retain hopes of winning the championship.
Live Six Nations coverage of Wales v Ireland on RTÉ Two and RTÉ Player from 7pm on Friday (KO 8.05pm), live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 from 7.45pm and live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News Now app.
Live coverage of Wales v Ireland (KO 11.30am) in the Women’s Six Nations on RTÉ Two and RTÉ Player from 11.15am on Saturday.
Live Six Nations coverage of Italy v France (KO 1.30pm) and England v Scotland (KO 4pm) on RTÉ Two and RTÉ Player from 1.20pm on Saturday.
Live coverage of Wales v Ireland in the Under-20 Six Nations on RTÉ Two from 6.15pm (KO 6.30pm) on Saturday.
