Ireland vs Wales: Welsh hope Tomas Francis can be the answer to tight-head prayers

At this stage of the game, everyone is watching everybody with hawk-like intensity. England play Ireland in an important World Cup warm-up fixture at Twickenham next weekend – a match that could send their confidence levels into meltdown if they fail to improve on the lamentable effort in Paris seven days ago – and are already half-thinking about the must-win pool meeting with Wales in a month’s time.

And guess what? Ireland take on Wales in Dublin ton Saturday afternoon, with both sides going strong on the selection front as they shift their preparations into a higher gear. Stuart Lancaster, the England coach, may be sleeping just a little better having just put his own selection trauma behind him, but there is no rest for the righteous, let alone the wicked. When he tunes into coverage from the Fair City, he will watch proceedings with the aid of a microscope.

Under normal circumstances, the long awaited return of the Lions Test wing George North to Welsh colours would be the major talking point. North’s recent history of concussion injuries has cast a shadow over his long-term career prospects as a union player – another heavy blow to the head this side of Christmas would lead to some very serious questions being asked, not least by the medical community – so we can only hope and pray that one of the sport’s box-office talents emerges from this match in rude health.

Yet, from the England perspective, the immediate interest is concentrated on the latest addition to the Welsh front row: Tomas Francis, a 20st tight-head prop born in York and currently to be found playing Premiership rugby for Exeter. Francis qualifies for Red Dragon service because his grandmother hails from the Swansea Valley, and if he fronts up on his international debut, an awful lot of people living west of the River Severn will feel much happier with life.

Wales find themselves in severe difficulties on the tight-head side of the scrum, having pensioned off Adam Jones and lost the Hairy One’s heir apparent, Samson Lee, to a ruptured Achilles tendon. Lee may or may not play a meaningful part in the global tournament, so the search for a dependable alternative has turned just a little desperate.

Is Francis the answer to Welsh prayers? “He’s a lovely guy,” said the long-serving lock Alun Wyn Jones, who will lead the side in the absence of Sam Warburton, who is nursing a shoulder injury. If being “lovely” is not especially helpful when it comes to scrummaging your way into international recognition, Jones had more to say on the subject.

“Tomas has put his hand up by coming in and doing a lot of work behind the scenes,” he continued. “He’s getting to the point where he can be something more than a set-piece asset – where he can get around the park.”

Francis and North aside, there will be a good deal of focus on the performance of Justin Tipuric on the open-side flank. The last time Wales beat England, by a distance in the final game of the 2013 Six Nations, they ran both Tipuric and Warburton in the back row and between them the two turnover specialists stripped their opponents bare at the tackle area. There is much talk of them plumping for a similar arrangement when they visit Twickenham on 26 September, especially as the World Cup hosts have been struggling for quick ball at the breakdown.

Ireland, meanwhile, are in an enviable place, having retained their Six Nations title and spanked an experimental Wales side in Cardiff at the start of the warm-up programme before prevailing over an unexpectedly competitive Scotland combination in Dublin. Joe Schmidt has picked a good number of his star turns for Saturday’s outing – the centre Robbie Henshaw, the outside-half Jonathan Sexton, the scrum-half Conor Murray, the flanker Peter O’Mahony – and it will be surprising if they finish second, given the emotional charge provided by Paul O’Connell’s final Test on home soil.

Scotland, meanwhile, go into Saturday’s return game with Italy relieved by the knowledge that a long losing streak came to a welcome end in Turin a week ago. Two of their more inventive players, the full-back Stuart Hogg and the No 10 Finn Russell, will be in the starting line-up at Murrayfield and the odds are on a more decisive victory.

Vern Cotter, the coach, still has a large training squad on his hands, so this is a big moment for candidates like the flanker John Barclay and the centre Peter Horne.