Turn off the phone. Put away the newspaper. Avoid the inevitable questions about that chariot coming over the hill. There’s been plenty of talk about what lies in wait for this Ireland team but much of it has been focused on the match against England on Saturday week. That talk cannot be allowed to distract the Ireland players. They have to shut themselves off from it. The focus will be and has to be on this Friday night in Wales. And it’s going to be tight.

Staying focused

It’s easy to let your mind drift when you’re living out of a kitbag in a Kildare hotel and you’ve plenty of time on your hands. I always tried to avoid the newspapers during the Six Nations when I was playing but it’s a lot harder for Joe Schmidt to filter what his players are exposed to these days. It’s where the first danger lies for Friday’s match: thoughts of England. Sometimes you have to take comfort in clichés. The margins are very small in international rugby and it helps to stay focused on the basics. Tackle what’s in front of you. Take it one game at a time.

You set goals before the start of the tournament and the target for this Ireland side will have been to win the title. Once the action starts though, you have to narrow your focus and break the championship up into individual chunks. This week’s target is simple: win in Wales.

It all comes down to discipline and attention to detail, and this is where Ireland have been so strong in the past eight months. Everything about Friday will be analysed: the strengths and weaknesses of every opposition player, how each of them reacts in different situations, which foot they like to step off and how they should be tackled … they’ll even do sessions on the referee and how he calls the game. What does he look at? When is he most likely to blow his whistle? There’s a reason Ireland have given away so few penalties in the last eight months. They do their homework and keep their discipline.

Apply some pressure

Wales have had a very poor championship, losing consecutively to England and Scotland. A third straight defeat would mean their worst run of games since 2007 and they’ve had the guts of two weeks to come to terms with that prospect. Throw in the fact that Wales coach Warren Gatland has taken a sabbatical and will be sitting in the stand on Friday, writing down names for his Lions squad. A lot of those names will be wearing green. Not red. Anger can be a powerful motivator and 15 fired-up Welsh players won’t be easily tamed. It’s the second danger to Ireland’s prospects. Put simply, the pressure on these Welsh players is massive and everybody in the stadium will feel it. We have to make that pressure count against them.

Plan of action

So, where do we apply the pressure? At the risk of sounding like another well-worn cliché, it’ll start where it always does on a rugby field: up front. I’ve said it here every week and it’ll be what’s said in the Irish camp too. Attack them in the forwards, play for field position, trust your maul and make the most of any penalties that come your way. It’s a game of basics and when you put all these basics together you get the benefits. It’s test rugby. New Zealand have been doing it for years. You’re there to win, first and foremost – you’re not in the entertainment business.

I expect our front five to tear into the Welsh and reap rewards. Our back row is stronger and more aggressive and I think we’ll have joy there too. Add Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton to the mix and you have all the ingredients for dominance. It’s a great feeling when there’s 60 minutes on the clock and you have a pair of half-backs putting you deep into opposition territory with pinpoint kicks. Running forward 50 metres to attack a lineout is good for the soul. The opposite, having to continually run back to your own five-metre line to start from scratch and fight your way back up the field … it wears you down physically and mentally. And then when we have them on the ropes we have to get the ball to our big carriers and watch as Sean O’Brien and CJ Stander punch holes in their defence. Do the basics and then do them again. Tackle what’s in front of you.

They won’t like to admit it but these Welsh players probably have a bit of a complex about Ireland. We’ve been getting the better of them in the provinces for a long time and now we have the added tag of having beaten the All Blacks. They will want to measure themselves against us and we’ll have to remind them again and again why they fall short. Make them feel the pressure. Keep doing the basics.

The chariot can wait.