There are few people better placed to assess the mood of the Welsh rugby public than Simon Easterby and the Ireland boss will have his side prepared to face a Cardiff cauldron.
With a new interim head coach, Matt Sherratt, Wales host their first game of the Guinness Six Nations, under a closed roof at the Principality Stadium, on a 14-game losing run.
It's only natural that spirits are low but Easterby, who lives in Wales and spent almost his entire playing career there, expects a ferocious welcome for the defending champions, who have impressed in wins over England and Scotland.
"The Welsh public get behind their team whether they're winning or losing," said Easterby, who made seven changes to his team from the win in Murrayfield.
"There has been a change. Gats [Warren Gatland] did an unbelievable job across a long period of time but they felt it was time for change, he felt it was time for change.
"The Welsh public, I think, will be excited by that.
"I'm sure Matt will have had a little bit of time to put his stamp on the team and maybe selection will give us a bit of a steer in terms of how they're going to play the game.
"But we know from watching Cardiff and the players having played Cardiff, what their team is about.
"That will be an exciting change and one that the Welsh public, I'm sure, will try and get behind.
"[The closed roof is] an exciting thing to be part of, it will be different and we've got to have a bit of a feel for how that changes, maybe the ball flight.
"Certain things change maybe for throwers or kickers but essentially it's a brilliant stadium with a passionate crowd, both Irish and Welsh supporters, and hopefully it will be a good day."
The visitors, who have lost on four of their last five visits to Cardiff in the championship, are overwhelming favourites to pick up a Triple Crown tomorrow (2.15pm).
Simon Easterby pours cold water on Wales link as he prepares unbeaten Ireland for Six Nations clash in Cardiff on Saturday #RTERugby #RTESport pic.twitter.com/Yl88IZAkiQ
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 20, 2025
Ireland have won seven of the last eight meetings but Easterby, who has been assistant coach since 2014, was eager to remind fans that many of those games were hard won.
He said: "Yeah, well the thing is there's a few very good examples over the last few years and maybe a little bit further down the line where teams have turned up in Cardiff and they certainly haven't got it all their own way and sometimes have ended up getting well beaten.
"So, there will certainly be no complacency from us, they will have an unbelievable appetite and passion to try and put right some of the things that have gone on over the last couple of weeks and maybe months, looking back to November and last summer.
"We have to prepare as we would normally prepare for every game and that's been our focus all week."
While two of Easterby’s changes, Jack Conan for Caelan Doris and Dan Sheehan for Rónan Kelleher, were enforced, some of the other switches might be seen as a bold move by the selectors.
Mack Hansen for Calvin Nash on the wing, Garry Ringrose for Bundee Aki at centre, Joe McCarthy ahead of James Ryan in the second row are relatively straightforward rotations, while the supplement of less experienced players Thomas Clarkson, Gus McCarthy, Cian Prendergast and Jack Boyle, set for his first cap, may raise Welsh eyebrows.
Easterby was asked about the balance between maintaining the momentum that came with victories in the opening rounds and the infusion of new blood.
The 49-year-old said: "I think the continuity of selection versus giving guys opportunity, until you get those opportunities you just don't know and we're judging guys a lot in training, we're judging them on when they go back to play for their provinces.
"We've got a real confidence in the group, a lot of them having been involved in the Autumn series, maybe getting one or two caps, and this is a different dynamic, I guess, Six Nations, it's a very different feel and we need to challenge and give those guys opportunity to do that.
"So for me it's exciting, that's the only thing we should be doing for Irish rugby is making sure we keep growing the experiences and the depth and the understanding, and we've got plenty of continuity within that, I believe, in this selection, and we'll continue to do that in this championship."
He added: "I think we’re conscious of [building depth] but also every position. The front row is probably a position where it takes a little bit longer to learn the trade and understand what works for them so that’s sometimes more a slow-burner in terms of guys in those positions.
"But we also have brilliant development in the schools, the provinces and we’re continually searching for guys we feel are capable of stepping up in those positions in particular because they are quite unique positions.
"Cian [Healy] is with us, he brings so much experience to what Jack can do, to what Ports [Andrew Porter] does, but also on the other side, how he scrummages against Thomas Clarkson, Finlay [Bealham] and Tadhg [Furlong] when he’s with us.
"So I think there’s a nice balance to that team and the front row in particular. It’s a continual development process."
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