Ireland On Whether They Want The Roof Closed Or Not At Principality

Ireland say they haven’t even thought about the decision to leave the Principality Stadium roof open or not this Friday.

Joe Schmidt’s men take on Wales under Friday night lights in a crucial round for Six Nations clash, but it seems the roof is the last of their worries as they continue preparations.

Speaking at Carton House this afternoon, Ireland forwards coach Simon Easterby said they have yet to receive contact from the hosts and that they haven’t put much thought into a decision as of yet,

“We haven’t been contacted yet by the WRU so that is something that we haven’t really discussed too much,” he said.

“Later in the week, by Wednesday, by that point there will be some correspondence between the WRU and ourselves and we will make that call. We’ve had it both ways, open and closed.

“We had it closed in the World Cup [in 2015 for games against France and Argentina] and the players enjoyed that. And we have had it closed and open when we played Wales in the last few years. It is important that it is not a distraction.”

Ireland scrumhalf Conor Murray says he doesn’t mind either way, but part of him wants the roof to be closed for better conditions and atmosphere.

“I don’t mind, if the weather is going to be poor and raining you’d prefer it to be closed,” the scrum-half said.

“We’ve had it closed, we’ve had it open. We’ve had it open on good, dry days and it has been really enjoyable and we’ve had it closed and the atmosphere is incredible. We’re used to both ways and whatever way we decide on or agree on we’ll be ready for that. I don’t think it makes a massive difference to the way you play the game.

“The crowd will be loud but we’re all used to playing in big stadiums with high numbers of opposition fans so I don’t think it will bother us too much. Part of me would like it to be closed as the atmosphere would be incredible and you’re only going to feed off that.

“There will be a lot of Welsh fans there obviously but there will be a lot of Irish there too who will make themselves heard. It’s a really special place to play and we’re all looking forward to it.”