Cameron Hill

But Ford's coach Alan O'Connor warns they've shown that they can pose a real threat to Ireland this weekend.

So that defeat to France last time out means that another third-placed finish is likely the best-case scenario.

So that defeat to France last time out means that another third-placed finish is likely the best-case scenario for Ireland at this point.

Locked at 7-all at half-time, Les Bleus then pulled away for a 26 points to 7 win in Clermont.

Now, was Scott Beaman too quick to dip into the replacements in the second half of that game?

Former Ireland front-rower Fiona Hayes joined Owen Shahan on Wednesday night rugby and feels it might have been ill-advised to take off a few players who had been playing so well up to that point.

But she didn't go as far as suggesting that these were pre-planned substitutions that Beeman was reluctant to dither from.

And you can catch Wednesday Night Rugby in full once you're done here.

It's available right now in the OTB Rugby podcast feed.

And if you want to hear all of our rugby coverage on demand, why not become a member at offtheball.com forward slash join.

This is Rugby Daily on Off the Ball with Bank of Ireland, a proud sponsor of Irish rugby.

Never stop competing.

One of the big talking points in the women's game this week is the news of a major change for the WXV Global Series this autumn.

So the competition is now a 12-team format with games to be played during the autumn break.

So they've done away with the three-tiered system of WXVs 1, 2 and 3.

The IRFU head of women's strategy Lynne Cantwell revealed last week that Ireland will play Japan and the United States on home soil.

The venues for those games are to be confirmed as early as next week.

She's described it as having a mini-World Cup every year, but on home soil.

But there's been more of a mixed response to the news that the competition will feature a reduced ball size.

So the size 4.5 is 3% smaller than the standard size 5 used by women's and men's players up to this point and was trialled on the 7th Circuit back in November having been introduced at grassroots level as well as in Celtic Challenge training sessions.