Wales coach Mike Ruddock has named an unchanged side:
“The Irish are the current Triple Crown holders and they have the experience. With nearly 900 caps between them and a side that has been settled for the past five years they are coming to the Millennium Stadium for one thing only, and that is to win,” he said.
“But this Welsh team has special qualities, we are confident in the way we play and we give ourselves a license to express ourselves no matter who the opposition are.
“We will stick to our game plan, be bold, be expressive and take the opposition on in the same way we have done throughout the Championship and maintain our strong, aggressive defence. It has worked for us so far so there is no way we are going to change now.”
Wales
15 Kevin Morgan (Dragons), 14 Rhys Williams (Blues), 13 Tom Shanklin (Blues), 12 Gavin Henson (Ospreys), 11 Shane Williams (Ospreys), 10 Stephen Jones (Clermont Auvergne), 9 Dwayne Peel (Scarlets), 1 Gethin Jenkins (Blues), 2 Mefin Davies (Gloucester), 3 Adam Jones (Ospreys), 4 Brent Cockbain (Ospreys), 5 Robert Sidoli (Blues), 6 Ryan Jones (Ospreys), 7 Martyn Williams (Blues), 8 Michael Owen (Dragons, Captain),
Replacements: 16 Robin Mcbryde (Scarlets), 17 John Yapp (Blues), 18 Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), 19 Robin Sowden-Taylor (Blues), 20 Michael Phillips (Scarlets) Or Gareth Cooper (Dragons), 21 Ceri Sweeney (Dragons), 22 Hal Luscombe (Dragons).
Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan has also made no changes to his 22-man squad. In sticking by his side, O'Sullivan commented: "It wasn't a difficult team selection meeting. We didn't think about changing anyone because we played well against France, so we've stuck with the same squad
"Once we learned that Gordon (D’Arcy) and Shane (Horgan) would be unavailable again - we knew we would be selecting the same side," he added.
A victory by any margin in Cardiff would gleam back-to-back Triple Crowns for the Irish for the first time since 1949.
Ireland:
15 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester) 14 - Girvan Dempsey (Leinster), 13 – Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster, Captain), 12 – Kevin Maggs (Ulster), 03/06/1974, 11 – Denis Hickie (Leinster), 10 – Ronan O’Gara (Munster), 9 – Peter Stringer (Munster), 1 – Reggie Corrigan (Leinster), 2 – Shane Byrne
(Leinster), 3 – John Hayes (Munster), 4 – Malcolm O’Kelly (Leinster), 5 – Paul O’Connell (Munster), 6 – Simon Easterby (Llanelli), 7 – Johnny O’Connor (Wasps), 8 – Anthony Foley(Munster).
Replacements: 16 – Frank Sheahan (Munster), 17 – Marcus Horan (Munster), 18 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Munster), 19 – Eric Miller (Leinster), 20 – Guy Easterby (Leinster), 21 – David Humphreys (Ulster), 22 – Gavin Duffy (NEC Harlequins),.
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