While Andy Farrell is showing Tonga maximum respect in fielding close to a full-strength side for their meeting on Saturday, Stephen Ferris warns that the coach must be wary of a repeat of the 'Bordeaux Four' of 2007.
With Dave Kilcoyne, Finlay Bealham, Ryan Baird, Craig Casey and Ross Byrne all named on the bench, it leaves Stuart McCloskey and Jimmy O'Brien, as well as injured pair Dan Sheehan and Jack Conan, as the only players who are yet to feature for Ireland at the tournament.
In 2007, Ferris was part of what would later become known as the 'Bordeaux Four' along with Alan Quinlan, Bryan Young and Bryan Carney, who didn't get any gametime at the tournament.
And speaking on Thursday's RTÉ Rugby podcast, the former Ireland flanker, says Farrell needs to get the balance right between picking a strong team and keeping his 33-man squad motivated.
"It's very strong," Ferris said of the Ireland starting XV for tomorrow's meeting with Tonga.
"Fingers crossed we don’t have a repeat of the 'Bordeaux Four’ from 2007, because it is important that guys do feel like they are part of this journey.
"Are those four lads going to get their opportunity after this game? Potentially not.
"Stuart McCloskey, could he be put onto the bench in a game against South Africa or Scotland? Probably not.
"It’s all about winning a World Cup and you have to put your best team out there, but at the same time it’s important to keep the group happy and keep everybody feeling a part of it."
Bernard Jackman joined Ferris on the podcast, and said that barring injury it's unlikely we'll see O'Brien or McCloskey in the remaining pool games against South Africa or Scotland.
"Jimmy O'Brien may even come onto the bench if there’s an injury, but I just don’t see Stuart [McCloskey] being on the bench," Jackman said.
"I wonder why he didn’t play last week, or be part of this squad [v Tonga] to be honest. Certainly Bundee [Aki] has been really good, it’s not a question of that. By going so strong against Romania, he gave himself very little option. They want to go hard three weeks in a row."
However, the former Ireland hooker said that while McCloskey's status as an out-and-out centre means he's unlikely to be picked on the bench, he'd have no hesitation putting him in from the start.
"The beauty of McCloskey is that if anything happens to Bundee or Robbie, he’s good enough to start and we’d have no fear about him, so in that respect he’s a safety blanket.
"I’m sure those guys are getting worried who haven’t had gametime."
Jackman added that Ireland's final warm-up game against Samoa, in which they laboured to a 17-13 in Bayonne, may have played a part in Farrell picking such a strong side for these opening two games.
"I like the fact that he's gone strong for Tonga, I don’t think there was any need to go as strong for Romania, that’s where he could have made sure everyone got a chance.
"For a psychological benefit of that big win against Romania, getting minutes into people... Sexton needed to play, so there’s no issue with that but we probably went too strong against Romania, but got away with it, with no injuries.
"The problem I think was that the Bayonne match against Samoa put a bit of doubt in his mind around too many second strings together. The last thing he wants is to fall over the line against Tonga and not have confidence.
"Romania, being so poor, maybe we were a little bit over-conservative in that game."
Ferris agreed with Jackman that Ireland could have rotated their squad for the win against Romania.
However, he said he could understand Farrell's thinking, given the impressive form of some of his frontline players.
"I don't think there was any need to go as strong against Romania, however playing Bundee [Aki] in that game and the game he had, it almost feels like he’s at the top of his game and he’s brimming with confidence and he’s firing on all cylinders.
"If McCloskey started that game and Bundee comes on with 10 minutes to go and doesn’t get into the game, he’d start this week - and the weather doesn't look great – and then all of a sudden Bundee is under a bit of pressure.
"When lads are in form and feeling good and fit, it’s really difficult not to select them, and the same goes for Pete [O'Mahony], the same goes for Tadhg Beirne, he’s absolutely flying and the engine on the bloke is ridiculous.
"A few of the other guys in the team seem to have got a lot of confidence out of that Romania game, and I suppose Andy is looking for a little bit more of that consistency through the group stages."
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