Hugo Keenan: Ireland ready to deliver statement performance against Romania

READY TO GO: Hugo Keenan stretches before an Ireland rugby squad training session at Complexe de la Chambrerie in Tours, France. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Hugo Keenan believes Ireland are ready to deliver a statement performance this Saturday when they get their World Cup campaign underway at France 2023.

The Ireland squad is set to travel to Bordeaux on Thursday ahead of their opening Pool B match against tournament outsiders Romania. It is a game they are expected to win against the minnows of the group yet after some patchy performances in August across three warm-up victories over Italy, England and Samoa, the full-back feels the time is right for the world number one team to lay down a marker.

Pool rivals and defending champions South Africa and World Cup hosts France look to be the form horses going into this weekend’s first round of matches, each having delivered signature victories over New Zealand and Australia respectively on the last weekend in August.

Asked if Six Nations champions Ireland wanted to showcase their claims for the William Webb Ellis Trophy this Saturday, Keenan said: "Yeah, I definitely think we haven't shown our best so far over the summer.

“We want to put in a performance we know we have in ourselves. If we can lay down a statement doing that, that would be great.

“There's been some good bits, but then a lot of work-ons. We're excited for this weekend and ready to show an improvement on what's gone before."

Ireland are taking something of a step into the unknown in facing the world-ranked number 19 team at Stade de Bordeaux. Romania were last opponents at the 2015 World Cup when a tournament-record crowd of 89,267 packed Wembley Stadium to see the Irish win 44-10.

Eight years is a long time in rugby and Keenan said: “I wouldn't have known too much about them but you have to do your homework on them, you have to get up to speed pretty quickly.

“We've known the schedule of games for a while now so we've been able to prepare for this for a bit. We've been doing our homework and research on Romania and we can see what they're about and the physicality they're going to bring to this weekend.

“They're a big powerful pack, they back their set-piece, a few physical boys in the back line as well. It's going to be a tough challenge and our only focus is on Saturday. They're going to throw the kitchen sink at us, just like every team in this competition, they're going to have trained for the whole summer, going to have a good block of work in behind them and they're going to be giving it everything.” 

Keenan insisted Ireland would not be taking the Romanian challenge lightly.

"No, you have to respect all the teams in the competition. I suppose you have to gain a bit of confidence from what we've built on in the past by beating the top teams around, and let that build your confidence and belief going into it.

“But you can't take anything for granted. As I was saying, a lot of teams will have improved in this big block they've had together so we've got to take it up a notch ourselves."