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POC: 'There’s a plan to watch the All-Ireland final tomorrow alright!'

The Ireland captain says some of the squad will watch France in action this evening.

FOLLOWING THEIR THUMPING 50-7 victory against Canada, Paul O’Connell and his Ireland team-mates will spend tomorrow watching the All-Ireland football final.

Paul O'Connell with Jamie Cudmore after the game Paul O'Connell shakes hands with Jamie Cudmore at the final whistle. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

Ireland’s Pool D rivals France and Italy lock horns at Twickenham at 8pm but the Toulon-bound lock revealed the majority of the squad will be more preoccupied with the fortunes of Kerry and Dublin at GAA HQ on Sunday.

Joe Schmidt’s side will relocate to their St George’s Park base in Burton upon-Trent tomorrow and will spend the rest of the week in Staffordshire to prepare for their clash with Romania at Wembley Stadium on Sundayweek.

“I’d say a lot of the boys will watch it (France v Italy) but I know some of the boys won’t,” said the Ireland captain. “There’s a plan to watch the All-Ireland final tomorrow alright!

“A lot of the squad sat down yesterday and enjoyed the Fiji v England game and I’d say a lot of the boys will sit down this evening in the team room and enjoy it together.”

O’Connell and the Irish pack set a solid platform for Jonathan Sexton and his fellow backs at the Millennium Stadium.

Paul O'Connell gets a yellow card Paulie spent 10 minutes in the sin bin. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

With a dominant scrum and flawless lineout, Sexton and Co were presented with a host of attacking opportunities.

Alongside the hyper-physical Iain Henderson, O’Connell produced a typically robust display with his sin-binning early in the second half proving the only downside.

“It was a ruck, I shot up,” O’Connell explained . “There’s was a little bit of offloading as I was coming back. I went for the ball. I found out in the dressing room, I was offside initially at the ruck.”

Irish invasion makes Cardiff a home away from home for Schmidt’s men

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