WALES will face Ireland in Dublin on Sunday with Rob Howley urging the team's marksmen to rediscover their deadly accuracy, saying: "Kicking decides games."

Howley turned the focus on goal-kicking as Warren Gatland's side ready themselves for their first competitive match since lapses with the boot cost them a place in the World Cup final.

Their chances in the last-four battle with France were hugely damaged by Adam Jones's early injury and Sam Warburton's sending off for a tip tackle.

But Wales ultimately lost in Auckland because they missed 11 points in kicks.

And Howley believes the ability to find the target will prove equally decisive in the Six Nations.

Ahead of the game with the Irish at the Aviva Stadium, he welcomed Leigh Halfpenny's impressive kicking form at regional level.

"It's great to see that Leigh has set the standard," he said.

"He's certainly kept the Blues in a couple of regional games and Heineken Cup games since coming back.

"That puts pressure on Warren Gatland and Neil Jenkins, because kicking is an area everyone has highlighted since the Rugby World Cup. It's going to be important in the Six Nations — it always is. Kicking decides international games.

"It's good to have James Hook, Steve Jones, Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Priestland in our squad. That's the strength in depth and options that we have, long or short."

Halfpenny fell agonisingly short of securing Wales a place in the final of the global tournament when his long-range penalty attempt fell just under the bar against the French.

Until now, he has been seen as a distance kicker, but since his return home he has put himself forward for a front-line role at regional level and has indicated he would relish taking over as the national team's first choice.

"We talked to Leigh post-Rugby World Cup and it's been shown in regional rugby this year that if you have a couple of goal-kickers you might win games," said Howley.

"You need to have choice and strength in depth in your goal-kicking, short distance and long distance, and it's fair to say Leigh's long-distance kicking has been exceptional.

"It's just a shame he was just that half a metre short against France.

"But that's a different pressure, kicking from 50 or 60 metres.

"Kicking from closer is a far greater test of character, skill and mindset."

If only Wales could have cloned the great Neil Jenkins. Now skills coach with the Wales team, arguably the greatest kicker of the lot is these days charged with ensuring standards remain high in front of goal, and he insists he was pleased with the success rate at the World Cup until the last-four date with the French.

"I was quite happy with our goal-kicking in the World Cup until the semi-final," Jenkins said. "The statistics were good in the pool stages — seven misses, compared to 13 in 2007. I was very pleased with the quarter-final against Ireland because the conditions in Wellington were some of the worst I had experienced.

"For some reason, it did not quite go our way in the semi-final.

"We do not want our kickers to miss kicks, and they do not want to miss them, but at the end of the day stuff does happen.

"They work extremely hard, and the semi-final was one of those days."