Wales legend Shane Williams enjoyed many battles against Ireland during his distinguished career.
Here, he reveals the on-field verbal jousting that always plays a big part in these matches and talks about Warren Gatland's infamous claim the Welsh players don't like the Irish...
Warren Gatland once memorably suggested there was enough needle in Wales-Ireland encounters to make a porcupine wince.
"Of all the teams in the Six Nations, Welsh players dislike the Irish the most," said Gatland back in 2009.
He knew that wasn't the case — the dislike bit, that is.
The players had toured with the Lions in 2005 and developed a mutual respect, in part stemming from the fierce rivalry that had built up in league matches and Six Nations encounters over the years.
But every coach plays mind games and at the time Warren was particularly big on doing what he could to unsettle the opposition.
Where he was spot on is that for much of the past 15 years or so Wales have been desperate to beat Ireland. Their provinces have been so powerful and their national side has performed so well that putting one over them has almost been up there with getting the job done against England.
'Hate' has never come into it. Never ever.
Guys like Gordon D'Arcy, Brian O'Driscoll, Tommy Bowe and Paul O'Connell are all great guys who were popular and friendly Lions tourists. But they were also outstanding players — indeed, Tommy, my old Ospreys wing colleague, is still going strong — so defeating them and the Ireland side they played for was a big deal for everyone in the Wales camp.
It meant those all-Celtic encounters were always keenly fought.
And the on-pitch yapping of people like Mike Phillips and Ronan O'Gara had to be heard to be believed.
Mike was a master at getting under the skin of opponents. In his pomp, he must have been an absolute nightmare to play against. He might start a match by telling someone like Rog that he was going to run over him, but O'Gara was sharp and quick-witted and always gave as good as he got.
When you'd play against him, there wasn't a second when you did not think he was on the field. He had a whiplash way with words and most who dared take him on in verbal sparring came off second best.
The thing is with Mike, though, winning is everything to him. He is a ferocious competitor and he liked nothing better than silencing the likes of Rog with outstanding performances. Indeed, some of his best and most memorable efforts in Test rugby came against Ireland.
I have no doubt there will be some banter between the players on Friday evening.
It is top-level sport and everyone is looking for an edge.
I remember in one of my first Tests I came up against Austin Healey and he was chopsing all game: "Williams, I thought you were supposed to have gas. Williams, they told me you could beat people. What's wrong with you today?"
I was a kid and it got to me.
But I went away thinking: "I will never let someone like that put me off my game again." Call it a learning experience.
On Friday, Wales need their leaders to step forward and point the way — guys like Alun Wyn Jones, Sam Warburton, Ken Owens, Rhys Webb, Taulupe Faletau and Dan Biggar, assuming they all play. Those boys have to bring their A games to the table.
It's a hard match to call. Play like they did against England and Wales have every chance of winning. Perform as they did in the second half against Scotland and, well, we all know what will happen then.