Henderson: Ireland will park squad nerves for Samoa meeting

Iain Henderson believes he and his team-mates will be able to park any performance anxiety against Samoa tomorrow, in what will be Ireland's final game before the Rugby World Cup squad is confirmed.

Andy Farrell will publicly announce his 33-man squad for the tournament on Sunday afternoon at 4.30pm, having brought forward the confirmation by a day.

Barring late injuries, it looks like Farrell has already settled on his final squad, with Keith Earls and Stuart McCloskey's inclusions in the starting team for the game with Samoa in Bayonne a positive indicator of their chances.

And Henderson, who captains Ireland tomorrow night, says he expects they'll be told the news on Saturday night after the game.

"I would imagine it would be after," the second row said.

"No he hasn't [told us], I'd say it would pretty rogue of him if he told us before the game.

"He hasn't mentioned it, like I mentioned there, we're tightknit and everyone's looking after each other and ensuring whoever is left out will feel as little left out as possible."

The 31-year-old looks almost guaranteed to be included for what would be his third World Cup, but for the nine members of this weekend's 23 who earned their first caps in the last four years, this is unfamiliar territory.

With just two weeks to the tournament starting, the reality is clear that any injury or suspension could have massive consequences on their chances of being involved at the tournament, but Henderson expects the players to deal with those nerves accordingly.

The Ulster lock said: "Close to half the squad haven't been in this position before but you can't keep control of things that happen in games in terms of the injury side of things, so what the players are focusing on is how they're going