‘Everyone’s Playing For A World Cup Place’ – Beirne And Casey On Ireland’s Match Against Italy

An international match week in August only happens every four years as the Ireland squad take their Rugby World Cup preparations to the next level, kicking off the Bank of Ireland Nations Series against Italy in Aviva Stadium on Saturday night.

Tadhg Beirne, in his second Rugby World Cup campaign, and Craig Casey in his first spoke to the media today about the pre-season training that has led to match week and how all the players are itching to get back playing.

Asked about his experience in camp so far and the intensity we can expect on Saturday Casey said, ‘It’s been very different. We’ve mixed the craic with really hard work and we’re doing a lot of rugby skills and a lot of rugby sessions so it’s been great.

“For me it’s another chance to get a test cap so I don’t take it as a friendly at all. Italy already have a game under their belt last weekend against Scotland so that will probably stand to them. I don’t think the intensity will drop one bit, it’ll probably go up a bit with players knowing they have to play to put themselves in contention for a Rugby World Cup spot, so I expect it will be a close test match.”