Ireland can score a victory at the World Cup insists rugby player Paul O'Connell, and the team has the players to make it a reality.

Attacking the opposition with standouts like Brian O'Driscoll, Tommy Bowe and Gordon D'Arcy will help the current squad to realize their potential, he said, even if it means getting rough.

"You have to dog it out sometimes," he told RTE this week. "If you look at Munster, we may have gotten away from that at times but we got back to it towards the end of the season.

"It's not going to be scintillating rugby for the whole of the World Cup. At times we are just going to have to work hard and be mentally strong, pull through and get a result. That's a big part of our make-up as well and something we are very capable of.

__________________________________________________

READ MORE:

Preliminary Ireland rugby squad for the World Cup announced

Israelis threaten Gaza Flotilla with Irish rugby player Trevor Hogan aboard

Irish rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll in candid New York interview

____________________________________________________

"As well as playing the good running rugby and putting teams away, it's the times when we are not playing well and we dig in that will probably define a lot of our tournament.

"For us it's important to realize being dogged is a big part of winning competitions. It's about winning games when you are sometimes not playing well and then, when you are playing well, putting teams away. Hopefully we can strike that right balance.

"We are in a very good place going into the World Cup. We know how good we can be, but the Six Nations showed both sides of Ireland. We also know how bad we can be when we are not right mentally, physically and that's a good place for us to be. We've been successful in the past when we have just taken one game at a time."