Romania are done and dusted with the not so mighty Oaks felled with a sharp axe and minimum fuss.
All eyes turn to Tonga and Saturday's meeting in Nantes' Stade de Beaujiore.
Ireland's coaches repeat the 'week by week’ mantra but they’ll long have had a plan laid out when it comes to managing the minutes building towards Saturday week’s Pool B blockbuster with South Africa.
But Tonga, ranked 15th in the world, come first and aside from the non-negotiable need for five match points, and the hope that everyone emerges injury-free, Andy Farrell will want to get game time into some lightly run horses.
After recovering from a hamstring issue, Rónan Kelleher played 30 minutes in Saturday's 82-8 win, while first-choice hooker Dan Sheehan has been out of action since spraining foot ligaments against England over three weeks ago.
While Sheehan’s injury was downplayed after some concern, if all is as well as reported, Farrell would surely like to see him running freely in the heat of battle.
South Africa’s power game necessitates Ireland getting the maximum effort from the starting hooker and the replacement for the 20 or 30 minutes he’ll be required.
Losing a hooker early in that fight would spell disaster; Farrell knows exactly what Rob Herring brings to the party so Sheehan should see some action against the 'Ikale Tahi.
Finlay Bealham didn’t feature against Romania and is likely to come in for the match in Nantes, while Farrell will also want to test out Dave Kilcoyne, who hasn’t played since the Italy warm-up over a month ago.
Iain Henderson has come off the bench in the last two games so a start is overdue, while Joe McCarthy has plenty of energy to burn and would benefit from a good run-out with the experienced Ulster man by his side.
Jack Conan, after a foot injury, needs to get some minutes under his belt in the back row, while Josh van der Flier and Ryan Baird may come into the reckoning.
Farrell could opt for the same scrum-half options as he did in Bayonne against the Samoans, therefore allowing Jamison Gibson-Park – so crucial to Ireland’s hopes – a break with either Conor Murray or Craig Casey starting.
Johnny Sexton has already spoken about playing some role next week and it makes sense, after a perfect comeback from a six-month break, to keep him ticking over.
Ireland got lucky in the Samoa match and there’s no point letting Tonga make a game of this.
They were ruthless in the second half against the Oaks but Farrell will want to see Saturday’s game put to bed early.
Start the captain, kill the game early and get him off after 40 or 50 minutes may be the thinking. Ross Byrne could see out the end game if needed.
Robbie Henshaw took a bang to the lower leg against Samoa, needed attention but finished out the game and was subsequently a late withdrawal with a hamstring issue last Friday.
Now seriously playing catch-up for the 12 shirt behind Bundee Aki, the Leinster man needs to stretch his legs, while Stuart McCloskey will push for a World Cup debut.
While there were questions raised about Mack Hansen’s original omission from the match-day squad, the lively winger – who stepped in for Henshaw and ran for 20 minutes against Romania – had played full matches against England and Samoa.
Given the plan was to rest him completely, it wouldn’t be unfair to put him on ice for a week before the Springboks challenge.
The unused Jimmy O’Brien and Keith Earls, not at his best last weekend, will be eager to send Farrell a reminder.
Possible Ireland team v Tonga: Jimmy O’Brien; Keith Earls, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe; Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Rónan Kelleher, Finlay Bealham; Joe McCarthy, Iain Henderson, Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Andrew Porter, Tom O’Toole, James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne, Craig Casey, Ross Byrne, Garry Ringrose.
Watch live coverage of Ireland v Tonga (Saturday, 8pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1, and follow live updates on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app.
Watch South Africa v Romania (Sunday 2pm) and Australia v Fiji (Sunday 4.45pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, with coverage of every Rugby World Cup game on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app.
