At the time of writing, there are some tickets left on general sale for Ireland against New Zealand on Sunday in Brighton, but it's dozens rather than hundreds or even thousands.
While there is no jeopardy in terms of elimination this week for Ireland, it does feel like that stakes have been raised in the last few days.
Franklin’s Gardens in Northampton is one of the great places to watch a game of rugby, and the 15,148 Northampton Saints ground was perfect for Ireland’s opening two games.
Moving to Brighton, and a 31,800 Premier League stadium against the defending world champions has moved things up a few gears.
Plenty of this Ireland squad have played in front of big crowds at major stadiums.
The Sevens contingent got to experience it last year at the Paris Olympics, while others have played in front of 50,000 at Twickenham.
That day, the Irish supporters were in the minority, but on Sunday, Ireland should have the majority of the crowd on their side.
Given the ease of travel between Ireland and Brighton, and the fact that Scott Bemand's side are underdogs against one of England’s main rivals for the World Cup, it’s fair to assume that the bulk of the crowd will either be Irish supporters, or neutrals joining the 'green wave'.
"It's so exciting. That's the most exciting part about this whole World Cup, the support," Ireland scrum-half Emily Lane says.
"The fact that we're so close to home, it nearly feels like a home World Cup.
"The crowd in Northampton were unbelievable, and to think it could be three times that this weekend.
"It's such a privilege to have that support."
The layout of this tournament has been perfect for Ireland, who had their two easier pool games against Japan and Spain first up, and after picking up maximum points in those matches, they can now move on to a rematch against the Black Ferns with their place in the quarter-finals already secured.
"It is going to be like that, essentially like a Croke Park feeling for these girls"@HannahOConnor22 on the unique vibe that will wait Ireland against New Zealand at Brighton's Amex Stadium #RWC2025
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 3, 2025
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While Sunday’s result won't make or break Ireland’s tournament, the performance could well have a major impact on what’s to come in a quarter-final against South Africa or France.
And as the standard of Ireland’s opponents increase, so too will the intensity.
"Naturally there will have to be a mindset. We’ve spoken about that, the margin for error now is going to get a lot smaller," scrum coach Denis Fogarty said on Wednesday.
"We need to be on the ball with everything we need to do in terms of how we train, and then come the weekend when we’re playing.
"Games are going to get tougher and tougher, but with how we’ve worked over the last year, we’ve shown we’re ready for that time and time again."
If there is an area of focus for Ireland it will be defence.
Of the seven teams already qualified, and the two others who are still able to qualify for the next round, only USA have conceded more than Ireland’s 41 points across the two games, while they’re allowing opponents an average of 9.5 entries to the 22 per game.
If New Zealand get access to the Irish 22 in the same way that Spain did last Sunday, it could spell trouble, but what has pleased the Irish coaching ticket has been the ruthless nature of their attack.
The Six Nations, and in particular the defeats against France, England and Scotland were all marked by a failure to convert opportunities in the 22, and Fogarty believes that element of their game has been elevated over the summer.
He said: "Our ability to score tries now, our ability to build phases and go through a number of phases and start finishing them off at the right times and pulling the trigger at the right times. That's been a big positive for us.
"And there's a lot of work that goes kind of into that in terms of getting in the right areas of the field, putting teams under pressure for us to get the ball back, or getting penalties.
"So the big thing for us is now we're not one dimensional at all.
"There’s a lot of strings to our bow, and we obviously want to keep growing that, but that's been the big positive for us."
The 42 and 43 points Ireland have scored in their first two games are both more than they have ever previously scored at World Cups, but the underlying numbers do point to a more efficient Irish attack.
Their 10 entries to the opposition 22 per game ranks a respectable sixth overall, but only Australia have a higher rate of points per 22 entry, with Ireland averaging 4.3 points every time they get into the final quarter of the pitch.
"I think there's always room for improvement, but you have to recognise the positive," added Lane, who is expected to be in the matchday squad for Sunday's Pool C decider.
"Scott said it's the most we've scored in a World Cup so far, so I think we take the positives from that
"We've been working on that as backs around executing in the green zone, scoring tries, and I think we've been doing that, whereas maybe we haven't been doing as much in the past few months.
"We still have room for improvement. We want to minimise our penalties, be more physical and stop those tries from coming in.
"Hopefully we can put into practice what we've been trying to fix."
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