Wales set to battle Ireland

Few the current Six Nations team had been born the last time Wales won rugby's Grand Slam in 1978.

Now the likes of Gavin Henson, Shane Williams and Stephen Jones hope to match Barry John, Phil Bennett and Gareth Edwards among the greats of Welsh rugby by beating Ireland on Saturday.

After Ireland lost at home to France last week, the Welsh are the only team that can win the Slam in the final round of matches.

But a loss by 13 points or more at the Millennium Stadium should mean a first championship for Ireland since 1985, provided defending champion France doesn't hammer Italy by 42 points or more in Rome today.

In today's other game, England hosts Scotland at Twickenham. But World Cup champion England has won just one of its four outings -- a 39-7 victory over Italy last weekend -- and can finish no higher than fourth.

Wales eight points going into today's game against the Irish, who are tied with France on six. England and Scotland each have two and the Italians seem certain to finish last after four losses.

Welsh Stephen Jones, who was three months old when his country last won the Slam, says his team's steady progress in the last 18 months suggests it deserves to win the title for the first time since 1994.

"It began, really, at the last World Cup, when we started picking our performances up with gradual improvement," said Jones, whose side is unchanged from its 46-22 victory over the Scots.

"But it came to a point where we hadn't got a victory over a major team, although we had a good chance to beat the All Blacks last autumn, but we didn't take it."

Wales 26-25 to New Zealand, currently the world's strongest team, in November after losing by just two points to Tri Nations champion South Africa.

Mike Ruddock's team also crushed Japan 98-0 and Romania 66-7 before beating England, Italy, France and Scotland in the Six Nations.

"We were slowly improving, and then getting that big scalp of England's in the first Six Nations game was important for us," Jones said. "The confidence was there then, and things have really snowballed since.

"If you look at our squad now, compared with the squad in 2003, a large percentage of personnel is the same. It's still a young squad, and there is a lot of rugby left in it.

"What's great is the youngsters who are coming in are coming into a squad that has winning ways, which is very important."

Having their chance to win a Grand Slam for the first time since 1948, the Irish won't want to hand it to the Welsh.

Eddie O'Sullivan's team lost 26-19 on home turf to the French and will be out to win a second straight Triple Crown, having already beaten Scotland and England.

"The Grand Slam is gone but the championship and Triple Crown are still there to be won," said center Brian O'Driscoll, who will captains Ireland for the 22nd time.

"Everyone was deflated after the defeat by France because there has been so much hype surrounding how well this team has performed over the last few years.