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That said, if the players are feeling any extra heat, as they aim to beat Scotland and secure top spot in the pool, they aren’t showing it.
That’s because so many of them, such as Dan Sheehan, are not carrying any of the baggage from previous World Cup failures.
With that in mind, the Ireland squad recognise there is a huge reward for taking care of business in Paris this weekend.
“Yeah, obviously there is a lot on the line, especially this week,” Sheehan said.
“But I think we probably stick to the same procedures in regards to preparation. I think you can be in danger of over-hyping a game or getting too feared up about an occasion. So, realistically, it’s pretty similar to a Test match, but obviously everyone knows that there is a lot on the line.”
Sheehan’s timely return from a foot injury has added to the optimistic mood around the Ireland camp, as they return to action following a weekend off after their impressive win over South Africa.
The Ireland hooker made a big impact off the bench 10 days ago and was grateful to do so after thinking his World Cup was over before it had even started, following the foot injury he suffered in August’s warm-up win over England.
“To get a good three or four weeks now of training under the belt and a half an hour of rugby definitely means that I have sort of got the confidence back,” Sheehan said.
“I feel in a great place, probably the fittest and the best condition I have been in a long time. It was nice to have that rehab window, where you can focus on other things as well. The body is in great shape. Just when the event (injury) happened in the England game, I just felt it was something that would take a good few weeks.
“Even chatting to the physios after, it looked like it would have taken a bit longer. I was probably looking at around eight weeks, but I think as the week went on it recovered really well, even in the first week, so that kind of gave us a good window.
“In fairness, everyone in here gave me every chance to give me that week to make sure we knew exactly what it was, and sort of a timeline.
“I think from there, once I knew there was a chance, it was just ‘head down and start working’. There was a good team behind me that put a lot of work into me to get me here.
“After the first two weeks, I knew it was definitely a possibility of getting to play in the group stages anyway.”
Sheehan’s return is also most welcome in terms of solidifying the lineout, which has struggled in recent months.
The 25-year-old is confident that the set-piece is not a major concern, as the pack look to eradicate the kind of errors that have hampered them.
“Nothing different, there’s been no new meetings or new plan, we’re very confident in our plan and the way we prepare for a lineout,” Sheehan insisted.
“We were coming up against South Africa, who are one of the best teams in the world, things will go wrong and we probably didn’t get everything right on our part but that’s just a quick review.
“There’s no need to go chasing something that isn’t here. We still have full confidence in our plan and way of preparing. I don’t think it’s a problem.”
Ireland supporters will be hoping that is the case as their side go up against a Scottish outfit whose lineout has also wobbled lately.
Five weeks out meant Sheehan lost a bit of rhythm but now that he’s back to full fitness he is ready to hit the ground running.
“Throwing is something that you definitely miss out on when you’re not involved in training,” he added.
“You can throw a ball against a wall or to a target as much as you want, but timings are always going to be the main thing you want to get right. You can only really find that in training, so that was one thing that was on my mind.
“But I put enough work in and there was enough support back home that I was able to get a few reps here and there, or do sessions where I wasn’t part of the session but was able to throw.
“So, throwing I thought was fine. The scrum, I wasn’t able to scrum for a little bit but I didn’t lose too much in that, there was only a few weeks where I couldn’t scrum.
“The only danger was coming back that I was too eager to overdo things. I probably gave away two penalties (against South Africa) where I was just a bit over-eager to get involved. I just need to go back to my own process and play the game.”
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