Peter O'Mahony says Ireland's incredible home record will count for nothing if they don’t put out their best performance and said describing Wales as a potential banana skin was "disrespectful".
The Ireland skipper was talking after Friday morning’s captain’s run at the Aviva Stadium ahead of tomorrow's Guinness Six Nations clash against Warren Gatland’s side.
Ireland are going for a record-equalling 11th championship win in a row and have won their last 17 Tests at Lansdowne Road.
Wales, meanwhile, have not won here since 2015 and have begun their campaign with defeats to Scotland and England, albeit by narrow margins.
"Every team loves playing at home," said the 34-year-old.
"It has to be the way. You have your comfort at knowing exactly what’s what.
"The routine is always there. At the end of the day [17 is] just a number, it’s irrelevant to us, it’s about the next performance and all those last ones have been put down through performances and playing well.
"If we are going to win that’s exactly what tomorrow will be about, playing well and putting in the performance.
"We don’t fall back on 'because we’ve won here x amount of times means we’re going to win tomorrow’.
"That’s the furthest thing from the case. We’ll win tomorrow if we play well and we perform really well and we can stop a really good Welsh team from playing their best rugby.
"I think a banana skin is a disrespectful term for this Welsh team.
"I’ve learnt the hard way a good few times, these people are very, very proud.
"They grow massively when they put on that Welsh shirt, you know they are a different animal, a different team. I’ve been on the receiving end of some heavy losses to these guys a few times.
"Look, there’s transition or whatever you want, but it’s the Welsh XV coming tomorrow, I know from experience playing alongside a few of them, playing against them, they’re an unbelievably proud nation and they play big when they’re in the jersey.
"They do, they play big, and that’s what we’re 100% expecting tomorrow."
Wales have spoken about trying to cause "chaos" in their attempts to pull off a huge shock and O’Mahony says the team, 2023’s Grand Slam champions, are aware of what’s coming.
"Look, that’s the game, isn’t it?" said the Munster back row, who will win his 103rd Irish cap.
"We have a good record, we are playing well.
"We have spoken about it and we have a target on us but that comes with the territory and you have to be cool with that and that you are going to get the best of every team.
"We know when we’re good that we’re going to put teams under pressure and other teams know that now as well.
"As a result, we expect to get the best of every team and we have no doubt but that we’re going to get the best of Wales tomorrow at 2.15."
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch Ireland v Wales in the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1.
Watch France v Italy in the Guinness Six Nations on Sunday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
