Ireland v Wales preview: Mid-August, a heatwave and Ireland playing rugby. It doesn't quite stack up really, yet despite clear evidence in recent years that the harder the ground the less likely Ireland are to hit it running, the expectation will be that they should make hay against an inexperienced Welsh outfit today.

Think back to the first Saturday in September last season and even Thomond Park was unusually subdued for a flat and rusty 39-8 win over Romania, when the bookies were handicapping the game in the 50 to 60 ballpark. And you have to think hard too.

It may have kickstarted a ten-game winning run, but it wasn't exactly one for the memory bank or the video vault.

Despite the conditions, handling errors, breakdowns in communication, wrong decision-making are inevitable, especially as so many players on both sides have so much to play for individually. And a warm-up game in a half-full Lansdowne Road cannot provide the edge of even an autumn international, much less a World Cup.

Much like the Romanian match, Ireland are on a bit of a hiding to nothing. Only three of the Welsh starting XV and six of the 22 that were denied a stunning win over Ireland last season in the Millennium Stadium reappear tomorrow.

Of those only stand-in captain Gareth Thomas and Gareth Llewellyn start both games. Thomas apart, at this juncture, none of today's line-up is expected to line out against England in Wales's next warm-up match or indeed come the World Cup.

By contrast, Ireland retain eight of their starting line-up from that day in March and with the likes of Wood, Reggie Corrigan and Paul O'Connell back, it would be no surprise if ten or 11 of this side took the field against Argentina in Adelaide on October 26th.

The pity is that Shane Horgan isn't one of them today. The unfortunate winger suffered another tear in his thigh at training on Thursday, although it's nothing on the scale of the torn quadricep which he initially suffered against Scotland in February.

Horgan had been "flying" in training and, given he hasn't played since, one can scarcely imagine how down he must be, although Eddie O'Sullivan is hopeful Horgan will be back for the Scottish game on September 6th. Tyrone Howe thus has a huge opportunity on the wing today, with Gordon D'Arcy promoted to the bench.

In keeping virtually all his frontliners out of the firing line, Steve Hansen has barely stopped short of dismissing this game as an unwanted interlude from training.

Asked if this has intensified the pressure on the home side not only to win, but to win well, O'Sullivan responded: "The easy thing for Wales to do is to pick what they call an experimental team and let the dice roll, and I think people will automatically start talking about a crisis if we don't win and win well. You could buy into that but that would be a negative for us.

"We've got to go out and try and play well, and win the game, there's no doubt about that. If things go wrong, then at least we'll know why, and it's much better it goes wrong in the next few weeks than in October/November. I don't particularly want any surprises in Australia if I can avoid them."

At least the climatic conditions are ideal for what lies ahead in Australia, admitted O'Sullivan. "But we won't be playing seven-a-side rugby even if it's seven-a-side weather." Ireland will probably endeavour to establish a solid platform early on and build from there.

If they get that, and Wood's return boosts those around him, while Brian O'Driscoll and co start finding space, then Ireland could pull away. Even so, in these warm-up games, O'Sullivan agreed that coaches and teams would be endeavouring not to show their full hands.

"It's a tactical game and we analyse each other to death, whether we admit it or not, but you've still got to go out and play games. You're looking for basics like solid set pieces, good defence, good tackling, good continuity play, people running good lines, getting quick ruck ball. They're probably the things you focus on, while keeping a few wrinkles locked away for the World Cup."

Getting everybody fit and healthy by then is the primary purpose of these exercises, according to O'Sullivan. So if the basics fall into place and are augmented by encouraging returns for Wood, David Wallace (who exchanged places with Victor Costello in training yesterday) and others, then Ireland will be up and running.