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Ireland fullback Rob Kearney expects a difficult battle against Dan Biggar this weekend, but feels the Wales outhalf is easier to read than most.
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“Every outhalf has cues, he has a few more cues than other outhalves. Certainly it is something I will study a huge amount this week – his cues – and always trying to be a step ahead of him and predict what he is going to do next.”
Biggar missed Wales’ opening two Natwest 6 Nations matches with a shoulder injury and Kearney is wary of the kicking threat posed by the Ospreys man.
“Certainly as a full-back they’re the hardest games to play in. Physically you are doing a lot of running, you are trying to cover a lot of space, but even more so mentally – I’m trying to get the jump of him, I’m trying to think a step ahead of where he wants to put the ball, so certainly there is a huge onus on the fullback at the weekend to make sure that he doesn’t find grass a huge amount of time.”
Kearney revealed that Ireland have already been preparing to face Biggar, even before Wales named their side.
“We expected him to come back into the team this week, so a lot of our scouting and preparation was on the basis that we knew he’d probably start. I think he will bring an excellent kicking game, a lot more of an attacking kicking game, so certainly for me I am expecting a lot more cross-field kicks, a lot of chips.”
“He is probably their strongest player in the air as well. They put a lot of onus on him to fetch their own balls, which you wouldn’t see a huge amount of 10’s do across the board in world rugby. He’s a very confident player, so he’ll bring an element of confidence too.”
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Ireland have not beaten Wales for four years in the 6 Nations, their most recent contest at the Aviva ended in a 16-16 draw. Kearney was asked whether Warren Gatland and Wales had a knack of figuring out Ireland easier than other teams.
“It is hard to know. They say they do. So we have to take their word for it in terms of that.”
“They’re a good team, so obviously they’ll back themselves away from home. There is a real element of familiarity between the sides, which obviously contributes them knowing us a little bit better and the fact that we seem play each other as clubs. You get a few wins over an opposition away from home and you go there going forward with a huge amount of confidence. They’ll be doing the exact same this week, they’ll come over a confident team.”
Ireland sit top of the Natwest 6 Nations table with two wins from two, but the Leinster man dismissed the idea that Ireland were favourites.
“Listen we were clear favourites in France going over there. I think enough of us have been in sport long enough to know that the bookies are not right every single week. They are always tight games, a lot of times one scores, so bookies and favourites tags don’t really come into our thought process.”
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