Ireland begin their World Cup preparation later this month when the training squad meets up, before taking part in three warm-up games, against Italy, England, and Samoa in August.
The fixtures against Italy and England will take place in the Aviva Stadium, while the match against Samoa will be in Bayonne at the Stade Jean-Dauger.
However, getting tickets to the England fixture does not look like a particularly enticing prospect given the ridiculous ticket pricing.
Currently, the cheapest tickets available are being sold for €110, with some going as high as €120, and fans were naturally ticked off.
For fans outside of Dublin this is particularly frustrating when you factor in the costs of a day out in the capital.
Thankfully the Italy prices are more palatable, with tickets going for €70.
Ireland's World Cup Warm Up Matches
“We don’t need a crowd outside of Dublin” pricing
— Barry S (@BarrySheehan) June 13, 2023
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One part of Ireland's World cup prep which could be thrown into disarray is the situation of captain Johnny Sexton who was recently given a letter of misconduct by the EPCR for his conduct at the end of Leinster's Champions Cup final loss to La Rochelle.
However, Bernard Jackman reckons that it is unlikely a ban will see him miss any of the tournament.
"We're not sure how strong this case is and certainly some of the speculation about a 24-week ban and things like that seems to be quite outlandish.
"You'd imagine the EPCR, if they are going to bring discipline into it, they would need to do it quite quickly. It's dragging on quite a long time.
"I wouldn't say there's any risk of him not being able to play in the World Cup.
"If there is going to be a disciplinary [action] I would say it'd be a fine or maybe a small suspension, maybe putting him out of warm-up games. But I think this will go away quite quickly.
"When you hear of a 24-week ban and then you see some of the suspensions that have been handed out for actual physical acts, which endanger players' safety... this was in the heat of battle, very emotional after a game Leinster lost in another Champions Cup final when they haven't won it for a while.
"I think referees, officials all understand there's emotion involved, there's a lot of passion involved.
"While it wasn't something that we condone, I think this can be dealt with pretty easily over the next week or two."
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