While the unbeaten Irish are just two wins away from their first Grand Slam for 54 years, two more Welsh defeats would mean a championship whitewash.

The bookmakers give Wales little hope of bursting Ireland's bubble, and history suggests they are right.

Not since 1983, when Eddie Butler was Wales captain, have Ireland been denied victory in Cardiff.

And with Wales looking back more than 12 months to their last championship win, an Irish defeat this weekend would be right up there on the scale of sizeable tournament shocks.

Hansen though, has declared himself totally satisfied with his players' work this week, having overseen a team boosted by returning senior internationals Jonathan Humphreys, Colin Charvis and Gareth Llewellyn.

"Pressure is something that you put on yourself," he said. "There shouldn't be any pressure on us to win here in this game, because it hasn't happened for 20 years.

"The key for us is to do the little things well, concentrate in minutes rather than hours, and do the things right here, right now, as well as we can."