New Wales skipper Dan Biggar expects "one or two cross words" with his friend and rival Johnny Sexton during the Six Nations opener at the Aviva Stadium on February 5.
Biggar, who got close to Ireland captain Sexton through Lions duty, admits an opening trip to Dublin is a tough one for the injury-hit reigning champions but claims there is a "bit of a swagger" among Wayne Pivac's players heading into the tournament.
Sexton said earlier this week that he was looking forward to going up against Biggar in his new role, which he has taken on in the absence of the injured Alun Wyn Jones.
"Johnny is obviously very competitive and wanting to win every moment of the game," said Biggar.
"I'm sure there will be one or two cross words next Saturday but I'm sure we'll be fine after the game and hopefully we and Jaco (Peyper, the referee for the game) can get through unscathed!"
"It's a really tough start obviously with the form that Ireland have showed in the autumn, how impressive they are and we know how tough Dublin is, we haven't had a huge amount of success over the last few years there."
Wales haven't won at the Lansdowne Road venue since 2015.
"This tournament in particular, it hinges on momentum, really," said Biggar.
"If you get off to a good start in this tournament then everything seems to flow and camps become a lot happier and training becomes a lot easier.
"So for us it's really important to get a good start.
"If you can pick up an away win in the first weekend then it sets you up really nicely.
"We've then got Scotland at home in Cardiff and we know that's going to be
"The opening couple of weekends are pivotal to how the campaign will go for you and we're hoping to get off to a good start, using the 10 days that we've got now to give ourselves the best chance in Dublin next Saturday.
"It's going to be close in terms of the form that Ireland and France showed in the autumn, England are always going to be strong, Scotland are hugely improving and Italy are always a huge challenge.
"So on any given day any team can beat each other, but the first thing for us is to make sure we win our home games.
"That's essential, to have any chance to we have to win our home games and obviously the two away games against England and Ireland are tough as well so if you pick up away victories there then you're laughing.
"But yeah, I think it really is a tough challenge this year, from our point of view there are a lot of key important players missing, but it also gives an opportunity for young lads to step up and really stake a claim."
Once again, the Welsh will look to come together as a formidable unit despite a lack of form shown by their clubs - no Welsh club has made the last 16 of the Champions Cup.
"Yeah absolutely, we were written off last year," reminded Biggar.
"I think everyone is aware of the difficulties facing club rugby in Wales at the minute, whether it's boys not playing or structure or whatever it is.
"We're coming into the tournament as defending champions so there's certainly a bit of a swagger in the group."
The talismanic Wyn Jones is expected to miss the entire championship with a shoulder injury, but Biggar isn't ruling out another miracle return.
"I don't think any of us expected him to turn up in South Africa halfway through last summer and he managed to get on the plane," he said.
"If there's anybody who has a chance of playing some part in this tournament, Alun is probably the man so I wouldn't rule it out just yet."
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