Ireland are ready to ignite their World Cup campaign against Wales on Saturday by rolling out their international heavyweights in a ‘physical’ dress rehearsal for Japan.
Joe Schmidt’s team open their bid for global glory with a key clash against Six Nations rivals Scotland and than play hosts Japan six days later.
Those games will shape Ireland’s path through the knockout stages.
They will also head to the World Cup as the world's number one ranked team if they beat Wales on Saturday, a position they have never held in their history.
And with key squad members lacking competitive minutes in the warm-up games, Schmidt is set to field one of his strongest teams possible = in Dublin.
Reports suggest Ireland will start with the likes of Johnny Sexton, Cian Healy, Keith Earls and Robbie Henshaw, who are all fit again to join Rory Best, Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson, James Ryan, Conor Murray, CJ Stander, Rob Kearney and Jacob Stockdale in the line-up.
The full side will be officially confirmed on Thursday.
With Japan in mind, Schmidt said: “We’ve got to get through those first two games, they’re monumental for us.
“Japan have an eight-day turnaround, we have a six-day turnaround and we know how complicated that will be to get up for if we lose to Scotland.”
And Schmidt admitted Ireland will use Warren Gatland’s Wales as a barometer to whether his squad can cope with the physical demands of a World Cup campaign.
“We’re trying to cover as many different ways of playing the game as possible because you want to be able to exert pressure in as many ways as possible,” he added.
“So, yeah, the dynamic power game that some teams have, I don’t think that’s a shift. I mean that was Wales that we always knew.
“Wales in the last World Cup averaged 106kgs (16st, 10lbs) per man and that’s gargantuan by our standards and they will be big on Saturday as well, physically.
“We are used to coping against teams that are physically bigger than we are, but it can be attritional and it can be physically sapping for players.
“We want to make sure we can physically compete, no matter what way our opponents play, and at the same time, we can impose a little bit of pressure on them by being able to mix up the way we play.”
