While Ireland have landed themselves in the pool of death at the Rugby World Cup, Devin Toner believes that the schedule of games has fallen kindly for Andy Farrell's side as they look to build towards their peak.
The Six Nations champions get their RWC campaign under way against minnows Romania in Bordeaux on Saturday afternoon, with their opening game in stark contrast to France and New Zealand, who meet each other on Friday night in Paris.
While the meeting of France and New Zealand is likely to decide Pool A, the pair will have their toughest group stage game out of the way early, allowing them manage their squad ahead of the quarter-finals in October.
Ireland, meanwhile, will have a altogether different route, with their easier matches up first against Romania and Tonga, before their two toughest games against South Africa and Scotland.
It means Ireland could head into their final pool match against Scotland needing to win to stay in the competition, but Devin Toner thinks it's the ideal layout for Andy Farrell's side if they want to reach their peak later in the tournament.
"If I was given the choice I think I would take Ireland's one [schedule] to be honest," he told the RTÉ Rugby podcast.
The former Ireland second row believes the pool stage layout also benefits out-half Johnny Sexton, who is set to return following a six-month layoff, allowing him build up game time ahead of facing the Springboks and Scots.
"I’m not saying that Romania and Tonga are going to be warm-up games but they are games that we should win.
"First of all, it gives Johnny a chance to get back in and play the game and get games under his belt and then South Africa will be the huge physical one.
"Scotland will be hard but not as physical as South Africa, so I like being able to build up into it. That would be my preference I would say."
The 70-cap lock played for Ireland at the 2015 World Cup, where Ireland were beaten by Argentina in the quarter-finals.
On that occasion, the squad had been hit with a frightening injury list from their final pool win against France, losing Paul O'Connell, Johnny Sexton and Peter O'Mahony for the quarter-final, while Sean O'Brien found himself suspended. Tommy Bowe, meanwhile, picked up an injury in the opening minutes of the defeat to Argentina.
This current Irish squad haven't had to deal with a setback quite as severe as the 2015 side, but the 2023 Six Nations championship did throw up several late injuries on the eve of games, while their Round 4 win against Scotland at Murrayfield featured a second half in which Josh van der Flier was throwing into lineouts and Cian Healy was packing down at hooker.
"I think adaptability is huge," Toner adds.
"Another one I remember was down in New Zealand when we lost to the Maoris, and then lost the first Test as well. Hearing stories of Farrell saying 'this is what I love, this will test us', he was building that strength within the squad to be able to adapt to everything.
"It’s a huge skill to have, to be able to influence players and squads and influence people to do that.
"In years gone by we won a bit, but obviously did fall at a good few hurdles. Hopefully going forward he’s build that adaptability."
Ireland are fourth-favourites for the tournament behind New Zealand, France and defending champions South Africa, but they do come into the tournament with the weight of being the world's number one ranked side, as well as being on a record 13-game winning streak.
"It's something we should relish, it’s a pretty good place to be.
"We obviously earned it with a lot of good performances over the last couple of years, but I think we’re in a really good spot and we should relish being number one and take pride in it, and take pride that everyone’s coming after you."
The Ireland head coach hasn't shied away from Ireland's World Cup ambitions, publicly saying as early as the 2021 Autumn Nations Series that they were targeting the 2023 tournament as the time they hit top form.
Toner, who retired in the summer of 2022, won the last three of his 70 Test caps in Farrell's first games in charge in the 2020 Six Nations, but says at that stage the new coach was just focusing on the short term.
"From my recollection he didn't talk about the next World Cup.
"I think the whole thing was he was coming in and wanted to set his own stamp on what he wanted to do. He wanted to make it an environment that people wanted to be in, he wanted people to be able to grow as players and express themselves how they wanted, and enjoy being in camp, building an environment we wanted to be in.
"In that little period he was just trying to set out his stall of his he was going to go forward with his ethos and environment. From my recollection he wasn't talking three years down the line, wasn't talking about the World Cup quite yet."
Devin Toner and a number of Irish rugby stars have teamed up with Heineken to go 'Green all the way' for big games this September. The country's most iconic and colourfully named pubs will be transformed and renamed as the nation gets behind Andy Farrell's side.
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Listen to live coverage of Ireland v Romania (Saturday 2.30pm) on RTÉ Radio 1, and follow live updates of that game, France v New Zealand (Friday 8.15pm) and South Africa v Scotland (Sunday 4.45pm) on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app, with match reports on every game.
