81 days and counting - Ireland's Rugby World Cup camp begins

It may still be a little under three months away, but for Ireland the preparation for the Rugby World Cup has officially begun.

Andy Farrell's side will open their Pool B campaign against Romania in Bordeaux In 81 days, on Saturday 9 September, but the Six Nations Grand Slam winners are already into camp.

Three weeks ago, Munster's players were parading the BKT United Rugby Championship trophy around a sun-drenched Thomond Park, and while many of the province's players still have a few more weeks of rest, nine of their squad are already back on the pitch as attention turns towards the World Cup.

A group of 42 players gathered at the Sport Ireland campus in Dublin on Monday where Farrell, Paul O'Connell, Simon Easterby, Mike Catt and John Fogarty laid out their plan for how Ireland can break their glass ceiling at the tournament in which they've never advanced beyond the quarter-finals.

The summer training programme will be punctuated by some downtime leading up to the opening warm-up game against Italy at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, 5 August, while the squad will then depart for a camp at the Quinta do Lago resort in Portugal, where they have visited on several occasions in the last four years.

Their second pre-World Cup friendly, against England on 19 August, will be their home send-off, before one final outing against Samoa in Bayonne a week later on 26 August, which will be the final chance for players to impress.

Along the way, Farrell is expected to prune his 42-strong group, but the final World Cup squad of 33 players is to be confirmed a few days after that game in France.

The performances last summer in New Zealand and the Six Nations Grand Slam success would leave around 23 players guaranteed their places in the