James Ryan insists that Ireland will have to match Wales' intensity this weekend, on what is sure to be an emotional encounter at the Millennium Stadium.
The game will be Warren Gatland’s last clash in Cardiff as Wales head coach and both he and the home supporters will be eager to see him sign off with a victory against a side he was once in charge of.
Ireland already face the challenge of trying to bounce back from a record 42-point hammering to England last weekend, and memories of March’s 25-7 defeat to Wales are still fresh.
While Ryan wasn’t involved in last weekend's defeat to England, he wants to see Ireland learn the lessons of that game and he’s aware of just how tough things will be in Cardiff.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, he said: "There’s a huge amount to learn from the weekend and we’re well aware of that. Yesterday and today we tried to take a lot of those learnings and we’ve another big one this week.
"It’s Warren Gatland’s last home game so Wales are going to be extremely motivated so we’ve got to make sure we bring our own emotion to match that.
"I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get my lungs going this week and get a bit of game time under my belt.
"Obviously it’s a big one this week, I’m just trying to be as focused as I can and we’re trying to be as focused as we can."
Ryan has limited experience against Wales in their own back yard, with this year’s Six Nations defeat standing as his only game in the Principality Stadium, but he’s well aware of the magnitude of the task facing Ireland on Saturday.
"I’ve only played there once but it definitely struck me how passionate they are, you can even see it in how much the stadium gets behind the anthem," he said.
"Gatland, with it being his last game, it only adds to that.
"We’ve got to bring our own emotion and a bit of fire this week and it’s setting up to be a big Test match in that regard."
One area in which Ireland will need to improve is the line-out. It failed spectacularly against England last weekend as Joe Schmidt’s side lost possession on six of their own throws.
Three of those lost lineouts led directly to England tries but while Rory Best came under some intense scrutiny for this throws, Ryan insist that it was a systemic failure rather than that of the Ireland captain.
"It’s never down to one person," he said. "It might look like an overthrow but a lot of the time it’s not necessarily an overthrow. It might be that the lift wasn’t good enough or the movement wasn’t where it had been all week.
"It’s always a combination of things, we are well aware of that. Our process in terms of our lifting or jumping across the lineout wasn’t where it needs to be.
"We’re well aware of that and the mindset this week was on fixing the lineout across the board."
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