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It’s been an Ireland-Wales build-up with a marked difference to what had become the norm. No verbal bombs from Warren Gatland. No gritted teeth riposte from Joe Schmidt either. Gatland is now busy with the Chiefs, Schmidt less so although he is currently spending a fortnight offering technical advice back on an old stomping ground in Clermont. When they used to clash at Test level it was nearly always an intense week of claim and counter-claim. With Wayne Pivac and Andy Farrell the new men respectively in charge of Wales and Ireland, the lead-in to Saturday’s showdown has contrastingly been all sweetness and light after too many years of tetchiness and rancour, the sort of nonsense that has this week instead dominated the build-up to the Calcutta Cup match in Edinburgh. The only stormy note about the Aviva Stadium encounter has been the weather forecast and what impact the anticipated windy conditions might have on the exchanges. Early February Test rugby is seldom pretty, as teams can be slow to pick up the thread again following their winter lay-off. But adding to the mix winds that are expected to reach 40kph around kick-off time and you potentially have a recipe for some low frills, up-the-jumper rugby. This was something Ireland struggled containing last weekend, Scotland’s more robust, confrontational approach leaving the result hanging through to the final whistle. Farrell’s forwards eventually gritted it out but can they now take their efforts to a higher level and end Wales’ eight-match winning streak in the tournament? RugbyPass runs the rule over some of the pressing issues that could prove decisive: Johnny be good, Biggar be better So much depends on this duo. Sexton’s importance to Ireland has become even more pronounced now that he is Farrell’s captain. He judged the mood of last week’s game correctly when kicking to touch and putting Ireland on the front foot to secure their only try rather than just kick the three points that were on offer. Fans dubious of the decision to give the veteran the captaincy feared his petulance and there was a show of this at one stage when he over-egged an injury, holding his jaw and exaggeratedly writhing on the floor. It wasn’t a good look and can’t be repeated if he is to become a fully respected captain in the O’Connell or Best mould. He brought more of a ball in hand approach to last week’s win rather than overly rely on boot to ball – look at how Conor Murray kicked for 195 metres compared to just 22 by the out-half. But how he plays it against Wales will be intriguing.

When Ireland were dismantled last year in Cardiff, Sexton’s discomfort was clear and obvious. The Welsh got under his skin and they will look to do so again, even though it is Dan Biggar directing operations and not the injured Gareth Anscombe who stole the show last time around. Biggar’s effort last weekend was a contrast to Sexton, using the boot much more to kick for 99 metres. He is a gutsy operator who well knows what it takes to see off the Irish. Sexton, though, had the bragging rights when they most recently clashed, Leinster running a bus through Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens on the December 7 day Sexton picked up the injury that kept him sidelined until last weekend. Set-piece security versus French-style refereeing Wales got themselves into a bind last week at the scrum, only winning five of their eight and conceding three penalties. Pivac was philosophic about this aberration in midweek and mentioned how he would seek out a pre-game word with Saturday’s referee Romain Poite. But there’s the rub – having a word is one thing, coping with the fussy French official’s mannerisms during a game quite another. It should be quite a battle at the scrum as Ireland coughed up two penalties last week against the Scots, so both teams will feel they can target each other to see can they gain a decisive nudge here in contrast to the more reliable lineouts each team has. Poite has Six Nations history of this fixture, taking charge of the game of two halves that was Ireland winning in Cardiff back in 2013 by 30-22. That was the year Wales put the opening round loss behind them and went on to take the title.