Scott Bemand did his best to deny it, but it's hard to shake the feeling that Ireland are coming into Sunday's Rugby World Cup Pool C game against Spain with half an eye on next week against New Zealand.
By 2pm tomorrow, we'll know whether that gamble has paid off.
Last week's resounding 42-14 win against Japan leaves Ireland in an ideal position to secure their quarter-final spot. A bonus-point win against Spain at Franklin's Gardens would make sure of it, and set up a pool decider against New Zealand in Brighton next Sunday. Even a win without a bonus-point would probably be enough, providing the Black Ferns see off Japan as expected.
The common thinking was that Bemand would play it safe this week, and make minimal changes to the side that impressed against Japan, homing in on that spot in the quarters and let the chips fall as they may in Brighton next week.
The Ireland head coach (below) is a difficult man to read though. This will be his 21st game in charge since taking over in the summer of 2023, and he's yet to name an unchanged team.
Nobody expected he would stick with the same XV that defeated Japan a week ago. With Edel McMahon playing 75 minutes on her return from injury last week, it always felt likely that the co-captain would be given some rest, particularly with the back row being a position of real depth for Ireland.
Similarly, Beibhinn Parsons has now played three consecutive games since returning from her second broken leg in the space of 12 months, and so it would have felt like a low-risk move to plug in Anna McGann on the right wing.
In total, Bemand has made seven changes from last week, with several players who would regularly be nailed-on starters either dropping to the bench, or even out of the matchday 23.
Neve Jones, Ruth Campbell and last week's Player of the Match Brittany Hogan, are all kept in reserve among the replacements, while Niamh O'Dowd and Aoibheann Reilly join Parsons and McMahon in dropping out of the squad entirely.
Ellena Perry and Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald, both of whom impressed off the bench a week ago, come into the front row where they join Linda Djougang (below), who will celebrate her 50th Ireland cap.
Eimear Corri-Fallon, Grace Moore and Claire Boles also come into the pack, while in the backline Molly Scuffil-McCabe and Anna McGann are both drafted in, with Aoibheann Reilly and Parsons dropping out.
The revolving door at scrum-half has been a feature of Bemand's selections in the last year, as Scuffil-McCabe, Reilly and Emily Lane have a timeshare at the position.
Scuffil-McCabe and Lane shared the minutes in last year's WXV1 and the Test against Australia, but since Reilly returned from injury in the Six Nations this year, the selections have become even more inconsistent.
The one pattern that is emerging is that Lane appears to be the change-of-pace option on the bench. The ex-Sevens played has featured in each of Ireland's last 13 games, but seven of the last eight have been off the bench.
Having had one of her best games in an Ireland shirt against Japan last Sunday, Reilly was put up for media duty on Wednesday, but will be watching Sunday's game against Spain from the stands, with Scuffil-McCabe and Lane preferred this week.
The hot potato approach to the nine jersey was put to Reilly this week, and she answered the question with a straight bat, while Bemand was also asked about the fine line that exists between keeping players on their toes or leaving them disillusioned.
"The players do understand where they stand," Bemand said,
"We have a great relationship with the three of them.
"The conversations that go on behind closed doors, stay behind closed doors, but they're good conversations. The girls understand what we're trying to achieve and how we're going to achieve it."
The case for this week's team selection is that if they get through the challenge of Spain, it gives Ireland an even better chance of putting it up to New Zealand in Brighton next week, where the winner would avoid France in a quarter-final, and more than likely face Canada rather than England in a potential semi-final.
On paper, last week's game against Japan would have been the tougher assignment, with Spain losing twice to the Sakura XV during their World Cup warm-up campaign.
Their 54-8 defeat to defending champions New Zealand saw them frustrate the Black Ferns for large parts of the first half, before the gulf between the sides showed after the break, and the physical toll of that game is evident by the nine changes made by head coach Juan González Marruecos.
Experienced prop Laura Delgado will provide them with some ballast off the bench, while second row Lourdes Alameda brings experience to the starting side, after a tireless 80-minute shift last week, where she made 19 tackles.
Eve Higgins and Aoife Dalton will have their hands full with exciting 20-year-old centre Claudia Pena, one of two players in the starting side who were born in 2005, while another five players were born in 2004. The average age of Spain's line-up is just 23-years-old.
The massaging from the Ireland players this week has been cold and clinical. References to their chequered history with Spain have been brushed aside, as has the possibility of securing their quarter-final spot early.
What has been stressed is the importance of a fast start. It hasn't always been the case with this Irish team, but last week's win against Japan owed a lot to how sharp they looked in the early stages.
And if they can hit the ground running in a similar fashion on Sunday, it should send them on their way to Brighton with a quarter-final spot secure.
Verdict: Ireland
Ireland: Stacey Flood; Anna McGann, Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Amee-Leigh Costigan; Dannah O'Brien, Molly Scuffil-McCabe; Ellena Perry, Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Linda Djougang; Eimear Corri-Fallon, Sam Monaghan (co-captain); Fiona Tuite, Claire Boles, Grace Moore.
Replacements: Neve Jones, Siobhán McCarthy, Sadhbh McGrath, Ruth Campbell, Brittany Hogan, Emily Lane, Enya Breen, Nancy McGillivray.
Spain: Amalia Argudo; Claudia Perez, Claudia Pena, Claudia Cano, Clara Piquero; Zahia Perez, Anne Fernandez de Corres; Gemma Silva, Marieta Roman, Eider Garcia; Lourdes Alameda (capt), Elena Martinez; Lia Pineiro, Ana Peralta, Valentina Perez.
Replacements: Cristina Blanco, Laura Delgado, Mireia de Andres, Anna Puig, Monica Castelo, Nerea Garcia, Bingbing Vergara, Lea Ducher.
Referee: Kat Roche (USA)