During his international career, Wales legend Shane Williams scored 60 tries, and two of that total came against Ireland.
One came in the 2008 Six Nations and the final one was in the crucial 2011 World Cup quarter-final in Wellington, New Zealand.
With a clash between both countries coming up on Saturday, we had the pleasure of welcoming Wales' all-time leading try scorer on Off The Ball to talk about his career and to look ahead to this weekend.
"For Wales, they didn't start the tournament very well. They've got stronger as the tournament's gone on and I think they can play better than what they showed against France. But it's going to be a tough ask. Tactically, Ireland are one of the best sides out there at reading teams. So it's a big ask for Wales," said Williams, who also feels the game is also part of momentum-building towards this Autumn's World Cup.
Of the three Welsh Grand Slam wins between 2005 and 2012, Williams felt the first was in some ways the most important.
"I think 2005 was almost a one-off because no one expected us to be successful and we played out of our skins for that tournament. We weren't successful immediately afterwards - certainly 2007 wasn't our best year - but probably when Warren Gatland got involved, we had to pick ourselves up after [getting knocked out of the World Cup by] Fiji. It was a slow process but I think we started to establish ourselves as a good defensive team, physically able to compete with the best and also we had some great strike runners," he said, before explaining the strengths of Warren Gatland as a head coach and man-manager.
Williams, who also spoke about the regrets from the 2011 World Cup when Wales went agonisignly close to the final, also admitting that he is not an avowed fan of the attritional, defence-first style of modern rugby.
"Tactically, I see why it's done but I'd prefer to watch a game that ends 30-29. Sometimes it's not good for the heart or stress levels but that's the way the game is going," he said, also speaking about how he adapted to playing in Japan.
Shane Williams is an Ambassador for Guinness, Official Beer of the RBS Six Nations and features in the Guinness ‘Made of More’ campaign as an icon of rugby who has triumphed over adversity and overcome the odds through his unwavering spirit and determination.
To view Guinness' 'Made of More' rugby campaign, celebrating the integrity and character of heroes from the game, visit youtube.com/GUINNESSEurope
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