New coach, same team.
Or just about.
For all the talk that predicting Warren Gatland's second chance at a first Wales team would prove difficult, it turns out we just had to look back to the side that ran out in the last Test against Australia and make a few changes where appropriate.
Twelve of the XV that collapsed against Australia nine weeks ago are present, with Dan Biggar returning from injury to take his place at fly-half, Tomas Francis recalled to start ahead of Dillon Lewis after falling out of favour under Wayne Pivac and Leigh Halfpenny starting at full-back for the first time in 19 months.
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Those three changes alone add 133 extra caps compared to the players they replace. The starting XV sits just 48 caps shy of a thousand, with an average age to this matchday squad that sits just short of 29 years old. Only six of the matchday 23 are yet to blow out 27 candles on their birthday cakes.
That might surprise some. Gatland bemoaned the fact that a younger generation hadn't been brought through by now, but he still leant upon the senior players as Lions coach in 2021 and again now.
It's hardly Dad's Army, but for all the talk of developing youngsters throughout the tournament, it's clear that first up against the world's highest-ranked side isn't the time to do it. As such, there's no place for any of the four uncapped players in Gatland's squad,
Of course, personnel is only half the fun. Much of the interest around a team announcement comes from the hints it gives as to what lies ahead on the pitch.
Gatland will baulk at the notion that his first era was defined by a hard-running centre providing the lion's share of go-forward at the gainline, but it's inescapable - as simplistic a term 'Warrenball' was - to deny how much Wales' game plan depended on big backs carrying into contact.
That's what makes the continuation of Hawkins at inside centre so interesting. Ironically, the 20-year-old turned out to be the missing piece to Pivac's backline - albeit too late.
Pivac had longed for a playmaking option to free up the fly-half to roam. Johnny McNicholl was tried, before Leigh Halfpenny began to make it work in the early stages of the 2021 Six Nations. However, he never quite managed to find what he was looking for and, as such, the onus fell on Biggar to run the backline on virtually every phase.
Until Pivac capped Hawkins in his final match in charge, against Australia. The young Ospreys centre provided another option at either first or second receiver, while he is capable of carrying hard to the line.
That perhaps makes him a little different to Gatland's last dalliance with a playmaking 12, Owen Williams. Ironically, Williams is on the bench and in line for his first cap since that two-match experiment with him in 2017.
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Wales will make no promises to be as expansive as the previous regime perhaps did. Instead, this side carries the hallmarks of a Gatland side, with a few flourishes thrown in - perhaps a sign of how Pivac had come to appreciate pragmatism as his reign went on.
Tomos Williams and Biggar will be tasked with winning the kicking game, with Rhys Webb and Owen Williams likely to follow the script closely on that front. No frills, with a focus on winning the marginal gains and shifting it when it is on. All too often, Pivac's Wales found themselves overplaying in the wrong areas of the pitch - trying to go through multiple phases around halfway, rather than putting boot to ball.
Then the selection of Halfpenny - albeit one dictated by Liam Williams' lack of minutes this season - should help when it comes to negating Ireland's half-backs.
In the pack, the average age rises to 31. Make no bones about it, in a tournament of momentum, getting the right start dictates how Gatland's plan to bring through younger talent goes. It's far easier to drip-feed young players into a side that has won a couple and isn't circling the wagons.
There's little surprise that six of the eight in the pack come from the Ospreys. It's not quite 13 like 2008, but the eight starters and four replacements is indication of what Toby Booth's side have done in recent weeks and Gatland will likely look to lean upon their biggest strengths.
The scrum and lineout will be targeted heavily, while the back-row is capable of causing havoc if they can stop Andy Farrell's men at the gainline.
The bench forwards seem likely to offer impact, be that the work around the park of Rhys Carre and Dillon Lewis, or the breakdown threat of Tommy Reffell. Perhaps crucially, in the replacement front-row at least, there's a decent bit of experience.
It's a side built to do a job. To start well, be competitive and perhaps even upset the odds. Just as Gatland leaned on one club in 2008, he's leaned on another familiar tie that binds, one that cannot be restricted to just one domestic outfit. Experience.
Let those who have been there and done it before get the job started. The tinkering can come later. How much feasibly there will be remains to be seen.
Different coach. Same team. For now.
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