Easy way to make fields in first row of h:dataTable required?

[Jonathan Eric Miller]

Does anyone know if there is an easy way to make it so that the fields in 
the first row of a h:dataTable are required, while making the remaining rows 
not required?

What I'm wondering is if something similar to the following is possible. 
Note, the "firstRow == true" is just pseudo-code for what I want to do. If I 
remember correctly, JSTL has something like this.

<h:dataTable id="references" value="#{applicationHandler.references}" 
var="reference">
<h:column>
<h:inputText id="name" required="#{firstRow == true}" 
value="#{reference.name}"/>
</h:column>
</h:dataTable>

Failing this, I was thinking I could just have two h:dataTables, one after 
the other, with the first table only containing the first row. However, if 
the column widths are variable, then the columns won't line up correctly.

Jon