Welsh captain Alun Wyn Jones has spoken about the "extra needle" between Ireland and Wales as the two sides face off in the Six Nations this Friday.
Speaking to the BBC on the recent intense rivalry between the nations he said: "To a degree, I don't know why. I think it's probably, for a personal point of view, with the Ospreys we've beaten them in the PRO12 on a few occasions or whether we have the vision of them doing so well in the Champions Cup - I don't know it could work both ways I suppose.
"I think there always is [some needle] because we're both proud nations and both try to play a lot of rugby. And particularly they've been doing very well. The only team to have beaten New Zealand for quite a while. There's always a bit of that - where it comes from, I don't know but it's what makes for a good game," he added.
Looking back at recent clashes between the sides the Welsh captain said: "It's good when you look back at the chapters and those occasions. It's probably no different this weekend, obviously with us being perceived underdogs and them playing so well and obviously what we need to do is essentially win and move forward."
Since 2008, the two teams have won six of the nine championships between them and Wales knocked a much fancied Ireland side out at the quarter-final stage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Ireland have named an unchanged starting line-up from the team that beat France two weeks ago whilst Wales also name the same team that lost to Scotland.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
