Rugby squad departs for World Cup

The Ireland squad flies out to France today ahead of the start of the World Cup.

Coach Eddie O'Sullivan's two main concerns have been responding better than expected to treatment - captain Brian O'Driscoll and Shane Horgan are likely to be fit for the side's second group game against Georgia.

O'Driscoll may even line-out this Sunday night against Namibia.

Meanwhile, Malcolm O’Kelly insists last-minute pessimism over Ireland’s World Cup chances is misplaced and believes a gruelling warm-up campaign will benefit Eddie O’Sullivan’s squad in France.

Ireland required a late try from fly-half Ronan O’Gara to defeat Italy 23-20 at Ravenhill just over a week ago in a game which raised serious questions about their forward power.

But despite struggling against the RBS 6 Nations whipping boys, Leinster lock O’Kelly is adamant some crucial lessons will have been heeded ahead of meaningful action getting under way against Namibia.

“I was proud with the way we came back and won that game,” he added.

“We squandered a lot of chances in the first half, we had chances to pull away and we didn’t. Italy grew into the game; they were living off our mistakes, which was a bit of a disappointment for us.

“But at least we were trying to put play together and we were making some inroads, so we have to look at those positives. Take something out of the game and the fact that we came back and won it.”

On where the Irish pack can improve, he added: “We obviously want to be more aggressive up front and be more consistent in the lineout and not lose as much possession as we did (against Italy).”

As a result of some indifferent pack performances, O’Kelly has warned his fellow forwards to expect to be targeted during the finals.

Ireland’s most-capped player, with 87 appearances to date, has experience of facing opening opponents Namibia and Georgia previously, with outings against the former Soviet state in 1998 and 2002 and a start against the Namibians at the 2003 World Cup in Australia.

Neither team are expected to reach the quarter-finals but both will have studied the recording of Ireland’s narrow warm-up win over the Italians, during which the Irish forwards failed to fire as a collective unit.

But O’Kelly, who is about to embark on his third World Cup campaign, believes he and his colleagues can bounce back to dominate in the loose and at set-pieces against Pool D’s two lowest ranked teams.

“I’ve played Namibia and Georgia a good few times before,” O’Kelly said.

“Four years ago in the World Cup the Namibians provided us with an aggressive game. They were certainly up for it and won’t leave anything behind this weekend. Maybe what they lacked tactically back then, they will have gained this time around.

“The same with the Georgians. They’ll be mad up for it, taking us on up front. The last two games we didn’t go well up front and we’ll be looking to dominate there.”