Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has warned his players that they will need to improve if they are to finish top of Pool D ahead of rivals France, whom they face in their final Pool game on Sunday in Cardiff.
As reported by the BBC, Ireland managed to secure a quarter-finals place after beating Italy 16-9 at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday but the team’s performance was less than inspiring.
“It’s going to be very hard for us to beat France,” said Schmidt.
“Physically they have players who are very, very powerful and that will make things difficult for us as well.”
Both sides will be hoping to finish the Pool as winners in order to avoid the expected scenario of facing Rugby World Cup defending champions New Zealand in the last eight.
“The French media have high expectations and so do the team. We have to be more accurate,” explained the Ireland coach.
“I’ve watched their games and I’ll be doing a lot of analysis over the next 24 to 48 hours.
“We’ll come up with a plan and hopefully we can be more accurate in putting that in place than we were against the Italians.”
However, Ireland currently hold an impressive record over France in recent meetings and have managed to record two wins and two draws in their last four encounters.
But captain Paul O’Connell knows that they cannot take anything for granted against an impressive French side led by Thierry Dusautoir.
“It’s a timely reminder of where we need to be,” O’Connell said.
“France are an incredible side with incredible talent. They have size, physicality, skill and they play with a lot of passion as well.
“In recent years we’ve done well. We’ve had to produce massive performances to make those games tight. It’s a mountain of a challenge.”
Keith Earls became Ireland’s leading try-scorer in the history of the tournament after running in his eighth try against Italy and although his side never trailed during the game they struggled to dominate and the result could have gone another way had it not been for Peter O’Mahony’s try-saving tackle on Josh Furno in the second-half.
“I said last week I’d take a one-point win – I’d rather not though, even a one-score game is tough on the heart,” Schmidt said.
“Sometimes it’s not your day and in the context of that, we are delighted to have got the result and qualified for the quarter-finals.
