And that’s the lot from me today - thanks for reading, emailing, tweeting - as always.

Barry Glendenning has Scotland v England for you right here:

Wilkinson on Ireland: “That looked like a team more comfortable second time out ... it looked more focused, more professional, and more complete today. The last Conway try was a constant build-up ... that’s almost Ireland saying - “We deserved to win this week.”

O’Driscoll: “Lots to improve on, and that’s the coach’s dream ... We don’t know what England we are going to see [when Ireland go to Twickenham in two weeks] but it’s a new environment that they [Ireland’s players] are clearly thriving on now.”

Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones speaks to Martin Bayfield: “We gave them an opportunity in the first half ... a couple of errors, a couple of rucks ... then we had a series of penalties [second half] we felt we should have got more from ... but we didn’t. They hemmed us in towards the end ... with the environment [the wind] it was difficult to get out.”

Paul Rees reports from Dublin:

Gareth Thomas on that disallowed second-half Hadleigh Parkes try - he thinks it should have stood: “It’s difficult to be certain there is a gap between the hand and the ball ... you can’t see an obvious clear gap ...but he [smiling at Brian O’Driscoll] thinks differently.”

Jonny Wilkinson says no try, too, along with O’Driscoll. He also points out that at first glance it looked like a good try, but frame-by-frame it was a different story.

On ITV, Brian O’Driscoll assesses that Irish performance: “It feels as if they are starting to get into their groove a bit ... It was a bit stop-start ... but it takes a huge amount of pressure off Ireland now. They will head to Twickenham with probably a bit of a ‘freebie’ and they will expect to beat Italy at home in round four.”

Jacob Stockdale speaks: “It’s going to take a few weeks to get into the structure of things with the new coaches ... but I think we did very well today. We raised it up a level in terms of our physicality. We are always looking for those kicks in behind, we know their 15 likes to get quite high quite early, but you have to make the decision as it comes.”

Look at his face! Just look at his face!

78 min: Conway makes more inroads down the right for Ireland. The home fans’ minds are turning to a celebratory pint or two. It’s been a truly excellent display by their team, and one that bodes well for the rest of the tournament.

74 min: Ireland have an attacking scrum and will be very happy as the clock ticks down towards the final five minutes ... Cooney is also on for Murray at scrum-half.

71 min: Sexton goes off now, for Ross Byrne. Back-rower Max Deegan is on for his debut and Adam Beard comes on for Wales, replacing Jake Ball.

A couple of minutes ago, Ronan Kelleher, Andrew Porter and Devin Toner came on for Ireland.

Also, Wales prop Leon Brown has replaced Dillon Lewis.

70 min: Ireland pick-and-go a few times as they work their way into the Wales 22. The Welsh tackling is still ferocious though. They are a supremely fit side, and will not regard this match as over, even if they trail by 12 going into the final 10 minutes. Can Ireland find a score to close it out, though?

68 min: Wales need a score and they need it quickly. But Conway gathers a box kick very well for Ireland.

Then Gareth Davies looks to get something going for Wales, standing over a ruck and trying to orchestrate the men behind him.

“I don’t need your help, OK?” says referee Romain Poite, after receiving a piece of advice from one of the players.

67 min: Handbags at 0 paces (I think this is a shot of the flare-up before half-time):

65 min: Now it’s really warming up! Ireland mount a brilliant counterattack across halfway as they spin the ball left, with space opening up in the Welsh defence on that side. A fantastic quick pass by Keith Earls is shifted on, and Stockdale kicks ahead into the corner as the Welsh defenders scramble to cover. Hadleigh Parkes then does amazingly well to gather Stockdale’s kick, and pull off an accurate one-handed off-load with an Irish tackler basically hanging around his neck. Brilliant skill. Ireland have the put-in at the scrum though.

64 min: Scrum penalty for Ireland! Dave Kilcoyne gets the better of Dillon Francis. That’s a massive moment, and the Irish pack celebrate like they’ve won the match.

Meanwhile Rhys Carre comes on, for Wyn Jones. Inside the final quarter, and Ireland have relieved a long spell of pressure.

Hilda Williams emails in:

“Why don’t Wales find touch anymore?”

Pivac-ball is more about running it, rather than kick-chase or territory kicking, right?

Having said that, you can feel the spirit of Warren Gatland in the way Wales are refusing to roll over here. They are so hard to beat.

60 min: Wales come again. They rumble towards the Irish posts, picking and going powerfully and demanding some desperate defence from the Irish as they seek to protect this 12-point lead. CJ Stander appears to have forced a turnover, but Poite had said ‘no hands’, and it’s a penalty for Wales.

Poite warns Sexton that Ireland need to be careful about these infringements in their own 22. “Can you have a word with them,” Poite says. Then Alun Wyn Jones gets a few words of his own with the ref. Wales take the scrum. A try here and they will be smelling blood.

54 min: Parkes is on the crash ball off a line-out for Wales, from short range. But the ball goes loose and it’s nearly grabbed by Irish hands ... Wales get the scrum just a few metres from their opponents’ line and they can maintain the pressure.

52 min: A few smart off-loads by Wales creates space and now it’s their turn to go through the phases close to the Irish line. McNicholl knocks on trying to pat a pass out left, but it was a penalty advantage, and Wales kick for the corner. If they can find a try now then we are going to have a superbly exciting final 28 minutes or so.

49 min: Pivac shuffles his pack. Moriarty and Davies are on for Wales. Tomos Williams and Aaron Wainwright go off. A minute later, Cian Healy goes off for Ireland with Dave Kilcoyne replacing him.

45 min: Ireland steal Welsh line-out ball and mount yet more waves of attack. Larmour is nearly over towards the right wing but Tompkins, as if to make a point about that first try before the break, lines him up and smashes him backwards, five metres from the line ... but it’s penalty advantage for Faletau being offside at a ruck. Now Ireland kick for the corner and shove a maul over the try line, and referee Poite wants to go the TMO. On-field decision is try so unless the TMO can disprove this, Ireland will be 17-7 up ...

44 min: Henshaw and Aki try to smash through the Welsh line with brute force. Ireland work the ball right again and go through a few more phases. Again, it’s Wales who are having to do all the tackling while Ireland manage to build pressure with their attack. Keith Earls now comes on because Robbie Henshaw needs a head injury assessment ... Jarrod Evans is also on for Wales with Biggar off, also for an HIA.

43 min: Ireland work the ball to the right with a few bodies in space ... Larmour then tries a kick for territory but it’s out on the full. Basic errors from both sides early in the second half.

42 min: Welsh fly-half Dan Biggar makes a mess of a pass having gathered a high kick from Ireland, but manages to send it backwards, and grabs it for himself. Play on. Then Tompkins makes another mistake, knocking on trying to gather what was a pretty poor pass. Sloppy start from Wales in the second half. Ireland have the put-in at a scrum pretty much right on halfway.

Great stat from commentator Nick Mullins: Welsh duo Alun Wyn Jones and Justin Tipuric made 44 tackles combined in the first half.

Some of the noises pre-match in Ireland expressed unhappiness with the early signs coming out of Andy Farrell’s reign as head coach. It’s fair to say the team, and the coaches, have answered a few critics with that very bright first-half performance. However, the match is far from won, and the players are out for the second half.

ITV pundit Gareth Thomas analyses the Wales try, and their off-loading game in that first half: “It’s been very brave, it [the try] was the first attack Wales really had. Dan Biggar and Tomos Williams have not given up the chase ... they know if Alun Wyn can get his nose through, there is a chance. It’s great to run an inside line. They’ve showed a few times they’re looking for the inside of Jonny Sexton, they think there is a weakness there.”

The Calcutta Cup is coming up after this match. Here is some half-time reading from Robert Kitson looking ahead to a crucial encounter for both Scotland and England:

39 min: Biggar and Larmour exchange long kicks as we move into the final minute. Wales have a lineout in their own half after a good punt by Larmour for touch.

37 min: Sexton finds Conway with a perceptive pass off that line-out, on Ireland’s right wing. From his own 22, the winger spanks a superb low kick which arrows seemingly for miles straight along the touchline, deep into Wales territory, and then diverts conveniently out into touch. The home crowd roars.

By the way - rain is forecast to arrive in the next 30 mins or so. The second half may be less expansive than the first if it buckets down.

37 min: Can Wales get back on terms before the break? You would have to say that Ireland deserve their lead on the balance of play so far. The Irish have a defensive scrum now.

36 min: I’d never use a hackneyed cliché like “Irish eyes are smiling.” But they are at the moment.

30 min: Wales have a defensive line-out, which Alun Wyn Jones jumps to win. He passes back to try-scorer Williams, who drops the ball right on his own try line. Ireland will have an attacking scrum as a result of that howler by the scrum-half.

27 min: Josh Adams has gone off injured and McNicholl is on. Big blow for Wales.

25 min: A break in play, and time for a couple of replays of that fine finish by Larmour, which was all about a classy step off his right foot. For Tompkins it was a harsh lesson in Test rugby, especially considering his star turn last week. Ireland’s attacking systems look excellent, and the work Farrell has been doing with his attack coach Mike Catt is plain to see.

23 min: The physical intensity of this match has been fearsome so far. You expect that, of course, this being professional rugby but it really has been bruising. But both teams are looking to use space out wide when they can - having earned the right to do so first, of course.

19 min: Nearly halfway through the first half and there has been remarkably little kicking. Both teams want to hold the ball and ask questions of the opposition defence.

17 min: Ireland captain Jonny Sexton is in debate with referee Romain Poite about a bit of work from Faletau as Wales struggle to deal with a driving line-out by Ireland. Poite says Faletau was entitled to fight for the ball from the position he was in. “He can’t just flop over it,” argues Sexton but Poite is having none of it. Wales have the scrum, albeit on their own line.

14 min: Now Ireland work through some attacking phases. Aki makes a burst in midfield, it’s worked right and then left, there is a dangerous burst again into that Irish left wing, and the hosts win a penalty which they kick for the corner, much to the delight of the home crowd.

12 min: Wales get their first attacking line-out right, and try a couple of times to bash straight through the middle. But now it’s Ireland’s turn to pull off a turnover, and it’s Bundee Aki who shows impressive presence of mind to rip the ball from Welsh hands, relieving pressure for his team. We’ve had ‘nil points’ so far, but both teams are having a go.

10 min: Wales try to run it down their left from a scrum and win a penalty advantage, with hands on the ball for winger Josh Adams for the first time. They then spin it back to the right, Parkes makes a sketchy loose pass looking for numbers in space, but it doesn’t come off and Poite, the referee, brings it back for the penalty which Wales kick for touch. Ken Owens will have the throw.

9 min: Ireland have made all the running so far, in attacking terms, but Wales’s defensive wiliness is coming to the fore, too. Tipuric and Faletau combine impressively for another turnover in midfield. It’s 0-0 and Ireland will be extremely keen to turn pressure into points.

7 min: Wales haven’t had a sniff in attack so far. Full-back Leigh Halfpenny puts up a trademark high kick, trying to create something from nothing, and chases it into the Irish half but he can’t make the catch.

5 min: Henshaw has been a handful in the centres so far for Ireland. He busts through a tackle and Ireland have a good attacking position deep in Wales territory - again on the left - but Wyn Jones, the Wales No 1, does superbly to compete for the ball and turns it over.

4 min: Ireland attack again down the left wing, it’s Stockdale again, who appears to have the freedom of the pitch at the moment. Welsh defenders seem to be standing off him and that is a dangerous game to play.

Hadleigh Parkes puts a clearing kick straight into touch now. It’s been an inaccurate start from Wales.

3 min: After what seemed a surprisingly loose start, with their defence very narrow, Wales make amends by winning a penalty on Ireland’s ball at the first scrum engagement. They can clear the danger.

1 min: Wales secure possession from Sexton’s kick-off and opt to kick. Ireland immediately show their attacking intent, Henshaw releasing Stockdale on the left wing, who chips ahead into space into the corner. Dan Biggar is under huge pressure, and Ireland get a five-metre scrum ...

In that piece with Wales prop Dillon Lewis I posted earlier, he says this:

“You cannot be expansive without putting in the hard work first.”

How many different ways can rugby players find to say that same thing about ‘earning the right to go wide’?

But it’s true, of course. Width will need to be earned today. It will not come cheap.

It’s on!

Kick-off is five minutes away. “Land of My Fathers” - tick. Now it’s Ireland’s turn to sing.

Trivia: When was the last time a Six or Five Nations match took place on the same day as a General Election in the host country?

I have absolutely no idea, anyone have the answer?

Incumbent Irish President Michael D. Higgins is currently pressing the flesh with the players on both teams.

A final blast of pre-match reading - on a new chapter in Saracens’ scandal-hit season:

The players are walking out on to the pitch, and the band is striking up. Kick-off is coming up in 10 minutes.

After a typically high-quality pre-match feature by ITV’s Gabriel Clarke with Wales winger Josh Adams, O’Driscoll looks back to last week, when Adams notched a hat-trick in that emphatic win against Italy:

“It was the desire that impressed me, he was on a hat-trick, the clock had gone red, he came off his wing looking for that short carry. It’s the same as the bests strikers in football.”

It’s official - Evans on to the bench for Williams, for Wales:

Gareth Thomas - another pundit alongside Wilkinson and O’Driscoll - on the new Welsh era - “Warren Gatland has left a legacy behind, and they’ll build on that legacy ... They know they have a good basis already, and they are trying to evolve with a positive mindset.”

A tweak to the Welsh bench, it would seem, with Owen Williams injured during the warm-up according to this tweet, and Jarrod Evans taking his place:

England’s women began their Six Nations defence with a highly impressive win against France in Pau last weekend. Ahead of their second-round meeting against Scotland, William Pickworth spoke to England prop Vickii Cornborough:

Quite right, Chris. It’s eight years since Wales came out on top here:

They’re talking about wind on ITV. Fellow pundits Jonny Wilkinson and Brian O’Driscoll agree that given the choice, they would play into the wind in the first half, and have it behind them for the second.

But as Kearney said, the wind tends to swirl around at the Aviva Stadium anyway, so it might not be quite that simple.

Of course, this isn’t the only Six Nations match on the menu today. There is the small matter of Scotland v England coming up later.

Here is Robert Kitson:

Ex-Ireland full-back Rob Kearney on ITV: “Territory is going to be a big thing today ... the wind is swirly here.”

The wind does appear to be picking up in south Dublin but fingers crossed, the conditions are going to be pretty decent despite the impending arrival of Storm Ciara. Hopefully it won’t be all about kicking for field position or sticking the ball up the jumper for the next couple of hours.

“We are in a good place, brimming with confidence for what we know will be a really tough game. The players cannot wait to get back on to the pitch. Training was quick, it was intense, it was ferocious. We have a few things to fix as well and we’ll make sure we do that.”

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell there. Here are some quotes from earlier this week, courtesy of Paul Rees again:

Don’t forget - you can contact me on email or on Twitter if you have any pre-match thoughts, or indeed any during-match thoughts. Hit me!

Wales coach Wayne Pivac speaks to ITV: “We were a bit slow to get to the breakdown [against Italy] at times last week ... if we do that again today, we’ll be turning ball over. We’ve done a bit of work on that this week. Tompkins is a true professional - and he deserves his start.”

Did you know: Wales prop Dillon Lewis drinks seven cups of coffee a day.

Paul Rees spoke to him ahead of today’s match: