Ireland up for physical battle, know French ready for high ball

By Padraic Halpin CARDIFF (Reuters) - Ireland are ready to repeat the body-on-the-line defence that has helped them to four wins in a row over France and they will not be deterred from relying on their successful kick and chase game in their World Cup Pool D decider on Sunday. "They're a big side: Massive, big strong athletes," Ireland captain Paul O'Connell told a news conference on Saturday, saying his side needed a "massive lift" in intensity from last week's 16-9 win over Italy to avoid a very tough day. "They're bigger than us and that's what teams do when they play Ireland, that's what South Africa do as well. It probably makes sense when you're bigger. "And they're not just bigger, they obviously have incredible players with fantastic talent and skill so the challenge is massive for us." Ireland's defence hung on to beat France 18-11 in their most recent encounter, a bruising Six Nations clash in February, and had to survive an equally nerve-shredding finale a year earlier to seal the 2014 Six Nations championship. France selected Brice Dulin and Scott Spedding, players who are originally fullbacks, among their back three with the aim of disrupting and providing an immediate counter-attack to Ireland's up-and-under kicks, coach Philippe Saint-Andre said. But Ireland are well used to sides lining up that way, according to fullback Rob Kearney, one of the best fielders of a high ball in rugby who expects to do just as much "kicking and jumping" as usual in the Millennium Stadium on Sunday. "Opposition teams know it's something that's coming when they play Ireland. It's part of our game plan most weekends and it's won us lots of games," Kearney, who returns from the slight knock that kept him out of the Italy game, told reporters. "They've picked two fullbacks, probably exactly for that reason. Teams do it against us more often than not but we've got three fullbacks ourselves really in the back three, all three of us have played there at some stage throughout our career. "There's going to be a contest, we just need to make sure we come out as best as many times as possible." Ireland and France have already made the knockout stages. The winner faces a quarter-final against Argentina while the loser will go up against world champions New Zealand. (editing by Justin Palmer)