Gatland wary of dogfight in looming clash against Ireland

Warren Gatland believes Wales must avoid getting dragged into a dogfight if they are to beat Ireland in the Six Nations in two weeks.

Wales are back in the Six Nations title race after successive away wins over Scotland and France following their opening 21-16 defeat at home to England.

With the English playing fellow unbeaten outfit Ireland overnight, Gatland believes Wales can still finish top of the pile come the end of the tournament.

But to do so, the New Zealander says they cannot afford to get dragged into a turgid forwards' battle against Ireland at the Millennium Stadium on March 14.

"The challenge is they're very clinical at what they do and don't make a lot of mistakes," said Gatland following Saturday's 20-13 victory over France.

"They're not playing a huge amount of rugby, their set piece is good, they drill their line-outs well, they kick to the corners well, their kicking in the air is good.

"We've got to make sure we cope with that. We got dragged into that sort of game with England, particularly in the second half. They just drove everything and slowed the game down and unfortunately we didn't handle that and stopped playing rugby ourselves.

"We were much better against Scotland and [against France] and we tried to move the ball. In that first 15 minutes, we played a lot of rugby. But it's tough to break down sides at the beginning when everyone's so fresh and there's not a lot of space.

"The message for us is to try to match or beat Ireland physically up front and try to go and impose ourselves and play rugby. If we're able to do that, then we'll come away with the victory."