Head-To-Head: Ireland v Wales

2013 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, February 2

WALES v IRELAND, Millennium Stadium, 1.30pm (live RTÉ Two/BBC One)

WALES: Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues); Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues), George North (Scarlets); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Bayonne); Gethin Jenkins (Toulon), Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Andrew Coombs (Newport Gwent Dragons), Ian Evans (Ospreys), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues) (capt), Toby Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Paul James (Bath), Craig Mitchell (Exeter Chiefs), Olly Kohn (Harlequins), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues), James Hook (Perpignan), Scott Williams (Scarlets).

IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Craig Gilroy (Dungannon/Ulster), Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster), Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster); Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster) (capt).

Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), David Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster), Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon/Ulster), Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster).

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Pascal Gauzere (France)
Television Match Official: Graham Hughes (England)

Head-to-Head:

Played – 118
Wales Won – 65
Ireland Won – 47
Drawn – 6

The six drawn games were in 1890 (one goal each), 1929 (5-5), 1951 (3-3), 1962 (3-3), 1974 (9-9) and 1991 (21-21)

Ireland v Wales: IRFU Stats Vault

Biggest Wins:

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

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, 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; 2009: Ireland won 17-15, Millennium Stadium; 2010: Ireland won 27-12, Croke Park; 2011: Wales won 19-13, Millennium Stadium; 2012: Wales won 23-21, Aviva Stadium

Wales – Form Guide From Start Of The 2012 Six Nations:

Won 23-21 v Ireland away (Six Nations)
Won 27-13 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Won 19-12 v England away (Six Nations)
Won 24-3 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Won 16-9 v France home (Six Nations)
Won 30-21 v Barbarians home (Summer Test)
Lost 27-19 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Lost 25-23 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Lost 20-19 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Lost 26-12 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)
Lost 26-19 v Samoa home (Autumn Series)
Lost 33-10 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Lost 14-12 v Australia home (Autumn Series)

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2012 Six Nations:

Lost 23-21 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Won 42-10 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Drew 17-17 v France away (Six Nations)
Won 32-14 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Lost 30-9 v England away (Six Nations)
Lost 42-10 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 22-19 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 60-0 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 16-12 v South Africa home (Autumn Series)
Won 46-24 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)

International Championship All-Time Records:

Points –
551 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
546 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
467 Stephen Jones (Wales)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
403 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

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

Caps –
61 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
56 Mike Gibson (Ireland)
55 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
54 John Hayes (Ireland)
54 Jason Leonard (England)
53 Willie John McBride (Ireland)
53 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
51 Martyn Williams (Wales)
50 Philippe Sella (France)
50 Rory Underwood (England)
50 Stephen Jones (Wales)

Wales – Most-Capped Players:

104 Stephen Jones
100 Gareth Thomas
100 Martyn Williams
94 Colin Charvis
94 Gethin Jenkins
92 Gareth Llewellyn
87 Neil Jenkins
87 Shane Williams
83 Adam Jones
76 Dwayne Peel
72 Mike Phillips
72 Ieuan Evans

Wales – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

1049 Neil Jenkins
917 Stephen Jones
346 James Hook
304 Paul Thorburn
290 Shane Williams
220 Leigh Halfpenny
211 Arwel Thomas

Wales – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

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

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

126 Ronan O’Gara
120 Brian O’Driscoll
105 John Hayes
98 Peter Stringer
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
90 Donncha O’Callaghan
85 Paul O’Connell
82 Girvan Dempsey
72 David Humphreys
72 David Wallace
72 Geordan Murphy
71 Gordon D’Arcy
70 Kevin Maggs

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

1077 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
267 Jonathan Sexton
240 Brian O’Driscoll
217 Ollie Campbell
158 Tom Kiernan

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

45 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
26 Tommy Bowe
21 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
16 Ronan O’Gara
15 Kevin Maggs
15 Keith Wood

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1385 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
1246 Jonny Wilkinson (1179-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1077 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
970 Stephen Jones (917-Wales, 53-Lions)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
809 Chris Paterson (Scotland)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
60 Shane Williams (58-Wales, 2-Lions)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
47 Bryan Habana (South Africa)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
46 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
46 Brian O’Driscoll (45-Ireland, 1-Lions)
44 Jeff Wilson (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)
128 Ronan O’Gara (126-Ireland, 2-Lions)
126 Brian O’Driscoll (120-Ireland, 6-Lions)
119 Jason Leonard (114-England, 5-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
116 Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
116 Nathan Sharpe (Australia)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
111 John Smit (South Africa)
110 George Smith (Australia)
110 Victor Matfield (South Africa)
110 Stephen Jones (104-Wales, 6-Lions)
109 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
107 John Hayes (105-Ireland, 2-Lions)
104 Martyn Williams (100-Wales, 4-Lions)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Keven Mealamu (New Zealand)
101 David Campese (Australia)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)
100 Mils Muliaina (New Zealand)