IRELAND’S RUGBY STARS have learned hard lessons from their disastrous World Cup campaign four years ago and captain Brian O’Driscoll has vowed to do things differently in the run up to this September’s tournament.

The Leinster centre made his comments while speaking at a New York Athletic Club function earlier this week according to irishcentral.com, and he went on to admit that the 2007 squad had talked themselves up “way too much”.

Ireland struggled badly to record victories in the opening Pool D games against Georgia and Namibia before being beaten by France and Argentina and exiting the World Cup after the group stages.

O’Driscoll did say that the squad expects to get further along in New Zealand but, perhaps reflecting the ethos coach Declan Kidney is famous for, there was no talk of final appearances.

“Rather than going ‘Yeah we can absolutely win it’. Why not just get yourself into the knock out stages and into the quarter finals and try and win that.

“I do think there is a belief within the squad now that we are capable of certainly getting to a semi-final. We are a far more consistent squad and I think there is now strength in depth there.”

Mike Ruddock, meanwhile, has introduced several new faces for Ireland’s final game in the IRB Junior World Championship. The Irish will face Ruddock’s native Wales in the battle for seventh place on Sunday and the head coach admitted he little choice.

“We looked fatigued against South Africa and so I have made a number of changes for our fifth game,” he said in an IRFU statement. “There was nothing between the two teams in the Six Nations earlier this season and both teams will be keen to end the tournament with a win.”