Head-To-Head: Ireland v Wales

2009 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, March 21

WALES v IRELAND, Millennium Stadium, 5.30pm (live RTÉ Two/BBC One)

WALES: Lee Byrne; Mark Jones, Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson, Shane Williams; Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips; Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees, Adam Jones, Ian Gough, Alun Wyn Jones, Ryan Jones (capt), Martyn Williams, Andy Powell.

Replacements: Huw Bennett, John Yapp, Luke Charteris, Dafydd Jones, Warren Fury, James Hook, Jamie Roberts.

IRELAND: Robert Kearney; Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Gordon D’Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald; Ronan O’Gara, Tomas O’Leary; Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Rory Best, Tom Court, Mick O’Driscoll, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Paddy Wallace, Geordan Murphy.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch Judges: Dave Pearson, Stuart Terheege (both England)
Television Match Official: Romain Poite (France)

Head-To-Head:

Played – 113
Wales Won – 62
Ireland Won – 45
Drawn – 6

Biggest Wins And Margins:

Wales: Points: 34-9, 1976 Five Nations; Margin: 29-0, 1907 Home Nations Championship 

Ireland: Points & Margin: 54-10, 2002 Six Nations 

Individual Records In The Series:

Most Points In A Match: Wales 20 (Neil Jenkins 1998); Ireland 22 (David Humphreys 2002)

Most Tries In A Match: Wales 3 (Johnnie Williams 1907 and 1910, Bryn Williams 1920); Ireland 3 (Robert Montgomery 1887)

Ireland v Wales In The Six Nations:

2000 Wales won 23-19, Lansdowne Road
2001 Ireland won 36-6, Millennium Stadium 
2002 Ireland won 54-10, Lansdowne Road 
2003 Ireland won 25-24, Millennium Stadium 
2004 Ireland won 36-15, Lansdowne Road 
2005 Wales won 32-20, Millennium Stadium 
2006 Ireland won 31-5, Lansdowne Road 
2007 Ireland won 19-9, Millennium Stadium 
2008 Wales won 16-12, Croke Park 

Wales – Form Guide From Start Of The 2008 Six Nations:

Won 26-19 v England away (6N)
Won 30-15 v Scotland home (6N)
Won 47-8 v Italy home (6N)
Won 16-12 v Ireland away (6N)
Won 29-12 v France home (6N)
Lost 43-17 v South Africa away (Summer Tour)
Lost 37-21 v South Africa away (Summer Tour)
Lost 20-15 v South Africa home (Autumn Series)
Won 34-13 v Canada home (Autumn Series)
Lost 29-9 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 21-18 v Wales home (Autumn Series)
Won 26-13 v Scotland away (6N)
Won 23-15 v England home (6N)
Lost 21-16 v France away (6N)
Won 20-15 v Italy away (6N)

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2008 Six Nations:

Won 16-11 v Italy home (6N)
Lost 26-21 v France away (6N)
Won 34-13 v Scotland home (6N)
Lost 16-12 v Wales home (6N)
Lost 33-10 v England away (6N)
Lost 21-11 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 18-12 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Won 55-0 v Canada home (Autumn Series)
Lost 22-3 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 17-3 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)
Won 30-21 v France home (6N)
Won 38-9 v Italy away (6N)
Won 14-13 v England home (6N)
Won 22-15 v Scotland away (6N)

Wales – Most-Capped Players: 

100 Gareth Thomas
94 Colin Charvis
92 Gareth Llewellyn
87 Martyn Williams
87 Neil Jenkins
79 Stephen Jones
72 Ieuan Evans
67 Dwayne Peel
67 Gethin Jenkins
64 Shane Williams
62 Tom Shanklin
59 Rob Howley

Wales – All-Time Leading Points Scorers: 

1049 Neil Jenkins
678 Stephen Jones
304 Paul Thorburn
230 Shane Williams
211 Arwel Thomas
209 James Hook
200 Gareth Thomas
166 Phil Bennett

Wales – All-Time Leading Try Scorers: 

46 Shane Williams
40 Gareth Thomas
33 Ieuan Evans
22 Colin Charvis
20 Gareth Edwards
20 Gerald Davies
20 Tom Shanklin
18 Rhys Williams

Ireland – Most-Capped Players: 

93 John Hayes
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
92 Brian O’Driscoll
91 Ronan O’Gara
88 Peter Stringer
82 Girvan Dempsey
72 David Humphreys
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson
65 Simon Easterby
65 Marcus Horan

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers: 

912 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
217 Ollie Campbell
190 Brian O’Driscoll

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers: 

35 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
20 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
15 Keith Wood
15 Kevin Maggs
14 George Stephenson
14 Ronan O’Gara

International Championship – All-Time Scoring Records:

Points – 
492 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
479 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
367 Stephen Jones (Wales)
352 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

Tries – 
24 Ian Smith (Scotland)
20 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
18 Cyril Lowe (England)
18 Rory Underwood (England)
18 Gareth Edwards (Wales)

Note: Points and tries are for International Championship – Five and Six Nations – as Jonny Wilkinson scored his first 60 points in the 1998 and 1999 Five Nations and Ian Smith’s try record has stood from the 1920s

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers: 

1099 Jonny Wilkinson (1032-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1010 Diego Dominguez (983-Italy, 27-Argentina)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
912 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
879 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
733 Gavin Hastings (667-Scotland, 66-Lions)
729 Chris Paterson (Scotland)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
46 Shane Williams (Wales)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
44 Jeff Wilson (New Zealand)
43 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
41 Gareth Thomas (40-Wales, 1-Lions)
40 Chris Latham (Australia)

Note: Daisuke Ohata scored 69 tries for Japan, but not all against major international opposition

The ‘100 Caps’ Club: 

139 George Gregan (Australia)
119 Jason Leonard (114-England, 5-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
101 David Campese (Australia)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)

Data supplied by SAS Software – the official data and competitive intelligence partner of the RBS 6 Nations Championship