Ireland continue their World Cup preparations tomorrow against Wales in Dublin with the Welsh looking to avenge their defeat from earlier this month.
Noel Mannion thinks Warren Gatland's side will prove a tougher test this time around. "Everybody was surprised by how they handed the Welsh team" Mannion told Oisin Langan on the Rewind Posdast but the former Connacht player added that Wales played a weakened team in the Cardiff clash.
The former Ireland international believes that there are only two or three places up for grabs in the squad and he feels that "28 places" are already booked on the plane.
As rumours persist of Ian Madigan being used as a back up scrum half, Mannion believes that as good a player a the Leinster star is, head coach Joe Schmidt "should not even consider" only bringing two specialist scrum halves to the World Cup.
The Ballinasloe also spoke to Oisin about his time at a World Cup in the amateur era and why Ireland have never had the consistency to reach a World Cup semi final.
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