Gordon D'Arcy is in confident mood heading into Ireland's pivotal Pool D decider against France this weekend and it's all down to the rabbits.
The Leinster centre was speaking to Off The Ball last night amid a serious dampening of expectations following the win over Italy. That may well be a positive thing but D'Arcy has said that the Irish public will see a lot more from Joe Schmidt's side moving forward.
The World Cup warm up games and the victories over Canada, Romania and Italy have all been leading up to this point and D'Arcy is confident that the magician is ready to pull something out of the hat.
We've heard it before but essentially D'Arcy believes that Schmidt has refused to mix things up so far as a tactic for this World Cup, especially considering the big games that lie ahead for Ireland in the next few weeks.
D'Arcy who, it must be remembered was part of the camp up until a matter of weeks ago, is certain that there will be a few new surprises (rabbits) to the Irish game plan that have been purposefully kept in reserve up until now.
We will try something, there will be a rabbit somewhere. The size, the colour, the amount of these rabbits... nobody knows.
There might be one, there might be three things... there will be some cloak and dagger in it. I'm very confident of that.
The Leinster man also gave an honest appraisal of Ireland's performances so far and said that unless Ireland make these adjustments and improve from their past performances then they will be facing the All-Blacks in the last eight. However, D'Arcy remains optimistic and confident heading into the French game.
If we play the way we have been playing, even if we play it better, we won't beat them, but I'm really confident that there is something lurking.
I have high expectations for this weekend.
So do we Gordon, so do we.
Pic via Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
