ABOUT THE WALES TEAM
* Warren Gatland has picked three players in his starting XV who did not figure in the recent Rugby World Cup – Rob Evans, Tom James and Jonathan Davies.
* Cardiff Blues wing Tom James wins his first cap for more than five years and 65 Wales tests.
* Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies will start together for the 40th time in a Welsh international and the 41st time in all Tests at centre with one appearance for the British & Irish Lions
* Gareth Anscombe will make his RBS 6 Nations debut in Dublin having made his Wales debut against Ireland in Cardiff in August
* There are a total of 364 caps named on the bench – Wales’ second highest total, four behind the seven-man bench which were named against Canada during RWC 2007
* Bradley Davies needs one more cap to become the 39th player to win 50 Welsh caps.
* Gethin Jenkins needs four more wins in the 6 Nations to overtake JPR Williams’ record of 34 championship victories. Gareth Edwards won 32 times to Jenkins’ 31
* The Wales XV boasts 579 Test caps compared to Ireland’s 507. There are 136 caps on the Irish bench compared to Wales’ 364
* The average age of Wales’ walk-on team is 26.9 years – and the bench is 28.3
* The average age of Ireland’s walk-on team is 29.3 years – and the bench is 26.6
ABOUT THE IRISH
* Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton will start together at half-back for Ireland for the 30th time
* Ireland’s only defeat at RWC 2015 came in the quarter-finals to Argentina at the Millennium Stadium. There are nine changes to the starting XV against Wales from that game.
* Joe Schmidt starts his third RBS 6 Nations campaign having carried off the title in the previous two, winning . His record is played 10, won eight, lost two
* Ireland’s only two RBS 6 Nations defeats under his tenure were away to England in 2014 and on a trip to Wales last season
* Ireland have won their last five matches at the Aviva Stadium in the RBS 6 Nations since drawing 13-13 against France in 2013. Their only defeat in the Championship at the venue since the opening round of 2012 was to England in 2013
* Ireland have lost only once in round 1 of the RBS 6 Nations since 2004 – to Wales at the Aviva Stadium in 2012
ABOUT WALES
* Wales go to Dublin having lost their last two internationals – Australia, in the Pool, and South Africa, in the quarter-final, at RWC 2015
* Wales have begun the RBS 6 Nations with an opening weekend defeat in four of the last six years
* In 2013 they still went on to take the title after losing their opening match to Ireland and last season they also won their remaining four matches after losing to England
* Wales have won their last five games played on opposition turf – Scotland, France, Italy, Ireland and England – and in last season’s RBS 6 Nations won all three away games
IRELAND V WALES
* The two countries met in two World Cup warm-up games last year with each side winning away from home
* Wales have won three times in Dublin in the RBS 6 Nations, doing so at the old Lansdowne Road in 2000, at Croke Park in 2008 and at the Aviva Stadium in 2012
* Irish skipper Rory Best will be making his 13th appearance against Wales and already boasts seven victories
* Wales lead 67-50 in the 123 match series against Ireland, which stretches back to 1882 and the second international ever played by the Welsh team
* In the RBS 6 Nations, Ireland lead 10-6 in the series to date and have also inflicted the highest score (54 – 2002) and the heaviest margin of defeat (44 – 2002) on Wales in the tournament
