Ireland’s big players will step up to the plate against France and be the difference, says former wing forward Denis Leamy.
The Munster man is confident that Ireland can beat Les Bleus at the weekend and set up a likely quarter-final against Argentina.
Leamy told RTÉ Sport's podcast The Rugby Show: “I think there’ll be a massive refocus and I think you’ll see the big characters shine through next week and I’d be very confident that Ireland can go and beat France.”
Reflecting on Ireland’s hard-fought win over Italy, which turned out to be more difficult than some people had predicted, Leamy said “I think it’s very fixable. Over the last 18 months to two years, Ireland have been very consistent.
“They’ll dip under and go over that at some junctures but Ireland maybe had a slight bit of an off-day [against Italy].”
Ireland play France in Cardiff on Sunday (kick-off 4.45pm, live on RTÉ Radio 1).
