Ireland have taken their hits so far in this World Cup but the question remains whether they can pick themselves up for the rest of the tournament.

On this week's Left Wing, Neil Francis joined Luke Fitzgerald, Fergus McFadden and Will Slattery and as usual, Franno didn't pull any punches.

"They look a tired team," says Franno. "The graph is going a particular way and even if they correct it against Samoa, they’ve got a lot of things wrong. Is it mirroring something? Where are the unforced errors coming from?"

While all the panel agree that Ireland are more than capable of beating anyone on their day, no one can see them doing it for a semi or final.

"It’s a tough space to be in mentally because you have to move on pretty quickly," says Fergus McFadden. "Your'e just hoping Joe is picking their confidence up again because time is of the essence."

The panel also lament the continued poor standard of refereeing, whether Joe Schmidt has learned from 2015 and the return to form of the 'veteran' McFadden for Leinster in the Pro14.

For more from the Left Wing you can visit the show page:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-left-wing/

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