Friday 4 September 2015 17:42, UK
Paul O'Connell has played down Ireland's chances of winning the World Cup as he believes last week's home defeat to Wales has left a huge shadow over the squad.
Ireland, back-to-back Six Nations champions, have been tipped as possible winners of the tournament which starts later this month.
However, Ireland were beaten 16-10 in Dublin by Wales in a pre-tournament friendly and they face another tough test at Twickenham on Saturday when they tackle England in their final World Cup warm-up match.
Skipper O'Connell admits his fellow squad members were feeling very low following defeat by the Welsh.
"I'd love to win a World Cup but it's a long, long way away now," he said. "And I'll tell you, the Monday morning after the Wales game, when we reviewed it, it felt a long, long way away as well.
"For me I don't think there's any value in me or us getting distracted by that.
"I think the week after you lose you wonder almost why you're playing any more, and Monday was tough.
"After the Scotland game I thought we were going to put a whole lot of things right, unfortunately we didn't and you just find out a lot about how far you have to go.
"So we need to get those things right this weekend and start building now, so winning the World Cup, it would be great but it's very much not at the forefront of my mind."
The Monday morning after the Wales game, when we reviewed it, the World Cup felt a long, long way away.
As for the England match, O'Connell added: "From our point of view, it's about putting together certain things that help us play well.
"We recognise those when we lose and we recognise those when we haven't done them when we win as well.
"I think even in that Scotland game, there would have been a whole lot of things we would have loved to have done better as well, even though we came out the right side of the result.
"So that's the big emphasis for us as always. There's always a few things we need to do really well that leads to a big performance and we'll be eager to do those this weekend. Hopefully that leads to a big performance and also a result.
"But we've no doubt how pumped up England will be for the physical aspect of the game given what happened to them in Paris."
Watch England take on Ireland in their final World Cup warm-up game on Saturday. Coverage begins on Sky Sports 1 at 2pm.
