Ireland v Wales. Sat 24th Feb, 14:15 RTÉ2

Whales can play rugby? You learn something new every day.

That must be Lions legend Tony O'Reilly in there also is it?

It is indeed the great Tony O'Reilly. Other Lions legends on that day included Cecil Pedlow, Noel Henderson, Robin Thompson, Robin Roe etc. the 55 Lions tour to South Africa was captained by Ulster player Thompson and managed by another Ulsterman, Jack Siggins. The series ended in a 2-2 draw.

Excellent find, as already said that is Tony O'Reilly.

Is Larmour injured? Thought he'd have been a much better option given 6-2 split

Wales weren't as bad as the scoreline suggests. Showed some good skills and frustrated Ireland quite a bit.

But their discipline was terrible. Gave away two penalties for next rolls in quick succession and couldn't stop infringing at the ruck. Think the Ireland squad is full of better athletes too. Just out muscled them in the final 25 minutes.

Nervous that it will be closer than the media and some folks here expect. Expect Ireland to win but Gatland (auto correct trying to give me garland) and Wales always raise their game against us. And worried an early injury in the backs will destroy everything

Reading Gatland’s comments about the terrible state of the Welsh regions, interesting that he isn’t convinced they’ll ever sort it out. Very envious of the Irish structures.

Here are the teams for today's match in case anyone is wondering what year it is

Ireland

: Ciarán Frawley; Calvin Nash, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O'Mahony (capt), Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.

Replacements: 

Rónan Kelleher, Cian Healy, Oli Jager, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Stuart McCloskey.

Wales: 

Cameron Winnett; Josh Adams, George North, Nick Tompkins, Rio Dyer; Sam Costelow, Tomos Williams; Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Keiron Assiratti; Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard; Alex Mann, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: 

Ryan Elias, Corey Domachowski, Dillon Lewis, Will Rowlands, Mackenzie Martin, Kieran Hardy, Ioan Llyod, Mason Grady.

Referees are

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Ita)

ARs: Karl Dickson (Eng)

Gianluca Gnecchi (Ita)

TMO: Eric Gauzins (Fra)

Larmour is not international standard in his preferred position, never mind as full back or utility bench cover

I don't think it's ironic to suggest that a specialist full back is more likely to make the squad to replace the only other specialist full back if he picks up a medium to long term injury.

If the other backs are good enough to cover Keenan in a pinch then AF will not use a squad place another specialist FB if Keenan is available. But if Frawley has a poor game at FB, then the argument for at least bringing Haley in to train becomes stronger given that Hansen and Job are both injured and Keenan is uncertain