WALES’ Jamie Roberts has hailed the "very special" achievement of beating France four times in succession and reviving hopes of another Six Nations title.

The home defeat to England on the opening day left Warren Gatland’s men on the ropes but they have come out fighting with back-to-back victories over Scotland and France.

Not since the mid-1950s have Wales enjoyed such a winning run at Les Bleus' expense.

And while they are now sweating on the fitness of skipper Sam Warburton, who went off at Stade de France, Wales are relishing the visit of reigning champions Ireland to Cardiff on March 14.

“It’s difficult to win pretty here, and sometimes you have to do it the difficult way,” said the Racing Metro centre.

“We always seem to want to do it the hard way. We started poorly against England and improved against Scotland, and we will certainly have to improve again to beat Ireland.

“It wasn't the prettiest of games, but it's a very special thing to beat France four times in a row.

"Our desire was huge. No-one wanted to miss a tackle at the end to concede a try, and we all put our bodies on the line.

"The scrum and lineout were superb, and that is the basis of the game. It is where it is won and lost, and the forwards really performed."

Roberts looks set to return home to sign a central contract for next season and he was glad to impress over the Channel on Saturday.

"When you are playing in France, the critics can be quite hard sometimes, but you have to put in the performances on the field and do your talking on the field,” he said. “From numbers one to 23 we did that on Saturday."

Warburton will break Ryan Jones' Welsh record of 33 Tests as captain if he lines up against Ireland, but it looks like being a patient waiting game for him during the next few days while his prospects are rigorously assessed.

Looking ahead to the Ireland challenge, Wales head coach Gatland said: "They are very clinical at what they do.

"They don't make a lot of mistakes, their set-piece is good, their driven lineout is good, they kick for the corners, they compete well in the air and we have got to be sure that we are able to cope with that.

"The message for us is to match or try and beat Ireland physically up-front and to make sure we impose ourselves and play some rugby.

“If we are able to do that, then maybe we can come away with the victory.”