Captain Keith Wood believes fear of failure will inspire Ireland to a rare home victory over Wales in tomorrow's Six Nations finale in Dublin. The Irish go into the clash at Lansdowne Road brimming with confidence and clear favourites following the famous victory a fortnight ago in Paris which extended their winning streak to three matches. But Wood knows Wales, who have won in Dublin six times in the last eight attempts, will provide a stern test of his side's hopes of making it four championship wins in a row for the first time in 52 years.
Fear is a good emotion to have.
If you do not have it you can drift into the realms of cockiness, which I can assure you nobody in this Irish team is near. We have to have a respect for Wales especially when you look at what they have done over the last two years. They had a torrid time in the early 1990s, but even then they were still able to win here at Lansdowne Road. We know it is going to be a really tough game. Hopefully we can put on a very good performance - and if it is good enough for the win then we would be happy.