Getting in the mood for Rugby World Cup

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Leamy: We'll Be Ready To Peak In France. Interviewed ten days ago, Ireland's number eight Denis Leamy feels there is no need for supporters to panic about their team's World Cup hopes, despite their recent less than impressive defeat of Italy. "We will be a lot better for having played that game against Italy. Personally, it was important to get a game under my belt going into the World Cup," "The fixture list has worked out for us. I think the way everything was organised means it was probably in the coach's mind. No disrespect to either Namibia or Georgia, but we would be expected to beat them both and we'll use those game to sharpen the knife for the big two," added the 25-year-old. "It wasn't one of our better performances on Friday but you have to be realistic. For a lot of us it was our first game of the season, for others it was their second. "You can't just flick on a switch. It's going to take time together and the Italian game will have brought us on an awful lot. Hopefully we'll be ready for the big games at the World Cup." Horan Emphasises Importance Of The Scrum Prop Marcus Horan believes Ireland have the potential in their scrum to surprise teams at the forthcoming World Cup, admitting that the Irish forwards thrive on criticism of their set piece play. Read on for the thoughts of the 47 times-capped front rower. ON PLAYING ITALY LAST WEEK: "The Italians would be one of the best in the world at scrummaging I suppose and it was a great run-out for us. With the pool that we're in for the World Cup, it's going to stand to us down the line. "It's important get those games. We set ourselves up against these teams and try and grade ourselves against them every season so it's important to have a game like that under our belts heading towards the World Cup." ON POOL D RIVALS ARGENTINA AND IRELAND'S SCRUM: "I think the Argies will probably be leading the way scrummaging wise. Our scrum is going really well. We are very happy with the way training is going and the progress we have made. It's great that we always have our critics - it keeps us going. "On Friday night against Italy we obviously didn't start well but I think it was more to do with the interpretation of the referee's call. We got the hang of it in the second half and we put them under pressure in one or two scrums. We got one or two against the head which is a great thing against an Italian side. "We pitted ourselves well in the Six Nations too against France in the second half of the game at Croke Park and the boys did well out on the summer tour in Argentina. It's a place we can surprise these two teams (Argentina and France) and hopefully give it a good go. "On French soil, if their scrum is under pressure, the crowd tend to turn against them so it's an important area of the game we should try to exploit." © extracts from articles published on the Irish Rugby Supporters Site