Players know drill to earn plane ticket to Japan

Self-preservation or team cohesion? The question would seem moot for an Ireland squad driven to succeed by men such as Joe Schmidt and Andy Farrell but with the clock counting relentlessly down towards World Cup selection decision day, the team being sent out against Italy today could be forgiven for trying to strike a balance between those opposing incentives.

Of course, as the Irish management and players have echoed all week, contributing positively to an effective, fluent team performance never did anyone harm in the search for gold stars from the bosses.