By Grainne McGuinness and Shaun Cronin
Conor Murray said Ireland are keen to lay down a marker with a powerful performance against Canada on Saturday.
Tougher tests await Ireland in later matches of the World Cup group stage, but the Munster scrum-half said Ireland need to make a strong start.
“The other opening games, you know, England Fiji will be a cracker of a game,” Murray said after yesterday’s team announcement. “They’re going to have to bring their A-game.
“So they’re going to start at a very high level and we want to do that too.”
Like head coach Joe Schmidt and prop Jack McGrath, Murray said they were not underestimating the threat posed by Canada.
“We’re under no illusions, it’s going to be a tough task,” he said. “We want to start on the front foot and start getting good performances together.”
“We’ve had a good build-up of four games and we want to fix a few things that didn’t go so well and try and continue on that upward curve. “
Shaun Cronin, Head Sports Reporter chatting with PA’s Rugby Correspondent after the Irish team press conference in Cardiff. Video by Dan Linehan