Wales can find a way to fly against Ireland – if they manage to dump their baggage

Thinking only of winning may be having a detrimental effect on Steve Tandy’s side, according to sports psychologist Dr Stephen McIvor

It’s unlikely Steve Tandy got to this point in his coaching career without ever alluding to the joy of playing with no baggage. Between club and country over the years he must have reminded his players that the lads down the corridor would be bearing the load, so that’s one thing less to worry about. And with that realisation comes a certain lightness. We’re not talking about the freedom of skipping around the park, picking out faces in the crowd and drinking in the atmosphere of a Six Nations tie, rather getting some value from being spared the burden of expectation.

For Wales this has come at a price. When you dip into your emotional bank for a run of 14 Championship fixtures, all of which end with getting your face slapped, it’s expensive. That kind of price makes you wonder about the value of it all. In which case the power of togetherness is critical if you hope to tip the scales, even slightly.

The former Munster and Ireland scrum-half Dr Stephen McIvor, a sports psychologist working with teams in high performance, suggests that’s where Wales may start. “The truth of it is that as humans we’re better when we’re connected and if you’re Steve Tandy then you’re emphasising that to your players,” he says. “It’s key for Wales that their coach takes away the baggage but it’s also important that he lowers their expectations.

“It’s funny, from the pro game down to under-12s you have any number of coaches telling their players how important it is to get the win. And it holds true across that broad range that it just doesn’t work. All of us already want to win – we don’t need it emphasised. Why would you want to cloud the importance of joining the dots, of sticking together and standing up for each other, by worrying about the outcome?”

The obvious thing in their favour before Tandy says a word is the effect of time spent together in camp. The Wales players have been with him for most of the last five weeks. That’s hardly an advantage over any of their competitors but if you’re starting from a subterranean low then the effect surely is more dramatic.

They’ve gone from a pitiful state ending November to a side robbed of a Six Nations win over Scotland by a bad refereeing call. In that space of time you can’t magic up the number of quality players they need to be contenders, but you can look respectable. In Wales’ case that has taken them only so far: specifically, to the opposition 22, where they struggle desperately to close the deal.

It would be a convenient add-on for Tandy to present some comment – any comment – from the island of Ireland as an insult. So, let’s go to war against a team who only a few weeks ago were suffering post-Test stress disorder having been hollowed out by France, but now won’t take us seriously?

“The siege mentality is as old as the hills and it’s lasted this long because it works,” McIvor says. “Of course it can’t be the be-all and end-all of your gameplan but never underestimate the power of the band of brothers.”

Andy Farrell may be flicking switches on a different sound deck but the end product is similar. First, having denied the story that he might be heading back to Saracens, where he played and coached, he is visibly nailing his colours to the Irish mast. Second, he will box his players into a corner where they have to pick up where they left off at Twickenham. The wriggle room is that they don’t to have re-enact, move for move, the freakishly successful outcome to virtually everything tried against England, but they need to hit a couple of markers: bully Wales off the park like it’s personal; don’t leave an untidy heap of chances behind them.

In pursuit of the former it’s unthinkable that Ireland’s ordinary scrum will look worse against Wales. As for the latter, Jack Crowley needs a very good return off the tee, and from his shot selection in Ireland’s phase play, to convince Farrell he has chosen well at fly-half.

In the opposite corner Tandy will have Dan Edwards back in the saddle only because of injury to Sam Costelow. If the performance against Scotland was evidence of the phase play running smoother with Costelow, and by extension the team looking more comfortable in what they were trying to do, then this shoves Wales back down a rung or two on their climb out of the hole. Tandy spoke this week about his team feeling more confident about winning moments, the aggregate of which he hopes eventually will deliver the day. It starts with baby steps when the other team is doing the heavy lifting.