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Ireland are grouped in Pool B alongside defending champions South Africa, Scotland, Tonga and Romania but Andy Farrell’s men will be fancying their chances having completed a record 13 consecutive victories when they defeated Samoa in the final warm-up game last weekend which is one better than their streak they enjoyed under Joe Schmidt in 2017 and 2018.
They are also the top-ranked side heading into the showpiece event and the 34-year-old reckons they are well-prepared for the competiition.
“We’re in a pretty good place given where we have been over the last two years and what we have achieved,” he said.
“We never get carried away with ourselves. We know, even going to Bayonne, where a lot of people probably saw us as the favourites, we know going into every game that we have to respect the opposition and we really did on Saturday.
“We knew how difficult it was going to be, so yeah, having gone through the summer, you know; we treat them like Test matches and that’s exactly what they are. So to have come through them all and won them all is brilliant.”
Ireland had a narrow win over Samoa in last weekend’s game in Bayonne with tries from Jimmy O’Brien, Murray and Rob Herring helping them get away with a 17-13 victory. While there were questions raised on how close the game went, Murray insisted that the results from the warm-ups counts little heading into the tournament like the World Cup.
“Going into a World Cup, it doesn’t count for much. You have to bring your best rugby when you get to the tournament when the competition kicks off for real.
“But, I think what the team knows is we know how good the team can be. We also know how hard we have to work to get to that level.
“So, the summer series was good and people got hit outs and we feel match fit now, but it’s a different animal now by the time the World Cup comes around.
“We know much pressure there’s going to be, how the atmospheres are going to be. We fell pretty confident, we know where we’re at given what we’ve come through.”
