Ireland v Canada: Teams

Lock Donncha O'Callaghan insists Ireland will be taking nothing for granted when they take on Canada at Thomond Park on Saturday.

With bigger games coming up against New Zealand and Argentina, Ireland could almost me forgiven for having one eye on those glamour ties.

However Ireland coach Declan Kidney has made it clear that his side can not afford to overlook Canada.

And O'Callaghan agrees that the Irish must respect their opponents, or risk coming unstuck.

"Deccie made a great point at the meeting that playing for Canada is a huge honour for these guys as well and they'll go out and give it everything," O'Callaghan told the Irish Times.

"It's a Test match and it's up a level from anything we've played since the tour last summer and we'll have to perform well.

"We've gone through some of Canada's matches - they've played Argentina, America and Scotland recently.

"With the help of Merv (Mervyn Murphy) and the coaches, we'll know them inside out...in terms of ball carriers, what carries they do, little stuff that goes into it. Tuesday to Thursday is when all the homework gets done."

Ireland have called Keith Earls up for the clash against Canada, with the Munsterman enjoying a storming start to the season.

And there is little doubting the quality of the Irish backline, with Brian O'Driscoll and Luke Fitzgerald teaming up in the centres, Tommy Bowe and Rob Kearney providing the threat down the wings and Ronan O'Gara and Eoin Reddan providing the spark at half-back.

In the forwards Jamie Heaslip, Shane Jennings and Stephen Ferris team up in a talented back-row combination.

Targets

Canada captain Pat Riordan is confident his side can build on their 21-13 win over Portugal when they take on Ireland.

"I'd give the game probably a B to B+ just based on the targets we set," he explained on the national rugby website.

"I haven't seen the numbers yet but we did win. So at the end of the days that's what you really measure Test matches by. It's either 100 per cent or it's zero.

"We didn't do all the things we wanted to do. We didn't do all the things as well as we wanted to do. But we did some good things and we did some things well.

"We bounced back after some bad periods. We held on to the ball a couple of times for eight or nine phases.

"I think for us it shows the growing composure. We talked about building pressure from phase play and in the past when we got to the higher number of phases we tend to break down."

The Canucks hand a debut to Ciaran Hearn, with the winger handed the task of marking Rob Kearney.

Mike Burak, Ed Fairhurst, Sean Michael Stephen, Justin Mensah-Coker and Jon Thiel all come into the squad after being cleared to play by their clubs.

Ireland: 15 Keith Earls, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Luke Fitzgerald, 11 Robert Kearney, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements (From): Rory Best, John Hayes, Ryan Caldwell, Alan Quinlan, David Wallace, Paddy Wallace, Peter Stringer, Shane Horgan.

Canada: 15 James Pritchard, 14 Ciaran Hearn, 13 Bryn Keys, 12 Ryan Smith, 11 Justin Mensah-Coker, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Adam Kleeberger, 6 Sean Michael Stephen, 5 Josh Jackson, 4 Mike Burak, 3 Jon Thiel, 2 Pat Riordan (c), 1 Kevin Tkachuk.
Replacements: 16 Mike Pletch, 17 Frank Walsh, 18 Tyler Hotson, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Morgan Williams, 21 Matt Evans, 22 Phil Mackenzie