Irish rugby fans are today taking to the air and sea as they travel to Cardiff more in expectation than hope that Ireland can secure its first Grand Slam since 1948.
Airlines and ferry companies have reported busy bookings in the run-up to Saturday's game, and extra services have been introduced to meet demand.
Nigel Tilson of Stena Line said the company's ferries to Wales were booked "chock-a-block" with rugby fans. The company's sailing at 9am tomorrow from Rosslare to Fishguard is booked out, as is a 9.15pm sailing on Saturday. Stena expects to carry at least 7,000 rugby fans to the game.
A spokeswoman for Irish Ferries said passenger numbers were "very substantially up" in the run-up to the weekend, with traffic running at four to five times normal levels. She said ships making the crossing to Wales were being decorated in a rugby theme, with live music to entertain fans.
At Dublin airport, 14 flights will be taking off to Cardiff tomorrow and tomorrow, carrying 1,500 people. Aer Lingus is operating a number of one-off flights on Friday and Saturday morning at 10.30am and from Cardiff on Saturday (22.20pm).
The airline said there were still some seats available on tomorrow's flight and the flight returning on Sunday evening.
At Shannon airport, which has no scheduled flights to Cardiff, bookings were heavy for flights to UK cities such as Bristol, Birmingham, and Manchester. A spokeswoman at Shannon noted Cardiff has a small airport that can struggle to cope with major events.
Ryanair will operate an extra flight from Shannon to Bristol that leaves 7.15pm on Friday and departs from Cardiff on Sunday at 3.05pm. The carrier said all its other Bristol flights were fully booked.
Two extra Aer Arann flights will operate from Cork airport, while at Belfast International Airport, BMI Baby has laid on five extra flights between Belfast and Cardiff.
