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Ronan O'Gara And Shane Horgan Outlined The Reasons To Be Positive Going Into The World Cup

Ronan O'Gara And Shane Horgan Outlined The Reasons To Be Positive Going Into The World Cup
PJ Browne
By PJ Browne
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Ireland had an impressive victory against Wales in their first warm-up game ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

The scoreline read 35-21 after 80 minutes but that did not fully reflect Ireland's dominance.

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Speaking after RTÉ's highlights of the match (it was only live on BBC Wales), Ronan O'Gara and Shane Hogan - while trying not to go overboard regarding today's win - outlined the factors which should make fans positive going into the tournament.

For O'Gara, Ireland have 'four key pillars' vital for success.

The biggest thing for me, standing back from it - I think we've got the best coach in the world going into it, we've got the best captain.

[Turns to Shane Horgan] We talked today about strength and conditioning coach and we've a manager there.

So you've four key pillars.

Shane Horgan likened Joe Schmidt's side to the Germany team which won last year's World Cup in Brazil while also highlighting Johnny Sexton's importance and how impressed he was with Ireland's physical conditioning.

You throw a ten into the mix. I don't think there's many better tens in the world than Johnny Sexton.

If you look at teams that have won the World Cup or been successful in tournaments, they're ones with a very strong spine in the team. You know, Germany very good management as well and they're also very well conditioned.

I was actually surprised to see Ireland as physically strong now. I know Wales based themselves on their physical conditioning and how dominant they are going to be in the tackle. That wasn't their first fifteen but at the same time, it's not Ireland's first fifteen and I thought that physically we really imposed ourselves on them.

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See also: 5 Irish Players Who Impressed Against Wales
Player Ratings: How The Irish Performed Against Wales
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