Both outfits won their opening fixtures of the 2020 campaign with Wayne Pivac’s Wales hammering Italy 42-0 and Ireland inching past Scotland in a tight encounter. Farrell has already named his team to face Wales and has made two changes from the one which faced Scotland.
He has also included one uncapped player among his replacements. In the back-row Peter O’Mahony comes in for Caelan Doris who was injured in the early minutes of the Scotland game.
CJ Stander reverts to No. 8 with Josh van der Flier named at openside. Max Deegan is the new face on the bench.
“We know Wales are Grand Slam champions and semi-finalists at the World Cup. Rightly so they’re being talked up as a great team,” said Farrell of his team’s opponents this weekend.
“You see two of their forwards sprint off to the width straight away which says a lot about where they’re trying to go. It’s funny because you would think that you’d need to get your spacing right defensively to manage that width but, therefore, they start playing through you.
“We’ve got to make sure we win the contact area first – it’s the same in any other game. I’m sure Wales are talking about the same scenarios.
“I thought their passing against Italy was really good as well. I thought Nick Tompkins came on for his first game and was whizzing the ball everywhere.
“Hopefully they don’t get that time and space against us at the weekend.” Iain Henderson and James Ryan start in the Ireland second row and the front row is unchanged with Cian Healy, Rob Herring and Tadhg Furlong all named.
Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton will both reach significant milestones this weekend with scrum-half Murray set to win his 80th cap and captain Sexton winning his 90th. The hand injury picked up by Garry Ringrose means Robbie Henshaw will partner Bundee Aki in the centre.
The back three of Jacob Stockdale, Andrew Conway and Jordan Larmour is also unchanged. Deegan is joined on the bench by Keith Earls, Ronan Kelleher, Andrew Porter, Dave Kilcoyne, Devin Toner, John Cooney and Ross Byrne.
“What a position to be in. We’ve won our first game at home and have had some good fix-ups,” said Farrell.
Ireland XV to face Wales (kick-off 2.15pm – AVIVA Stadium Saturday).
Jordan Larmour; Andrew Conway, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Jonathan Sexton (capt), Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rob Herring, Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson, James Ryan, Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, CJ Stander
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Devin Toner, Max Deegan, John Cooney, Ross Byrne, Keith Earls
