Keith Earls not content with 100 caps as he targets Rugby World Cup place

Having marked his 100th Irish cap in style with a try in Saturday's 29-10 win against England at the Aviva Stadium, Keith Earls is hoping he's done enough to book his place in Andy Farrell's World Cup squad.

Earls became the ninth men's international to reach a century of appearances for Ireland, while his try was a nice reminder to the Irish coach that he's still a lethal finisher at Test level.

The 35-year-old still had plenty of work to do when he received a pass from Bundee Aki on the left wing, needing to leap high to catch the high ball, before accelerating quick off the line and completing the score with a spectacular somersault to the corner.

Never one to demand being the centre of attention, Earls admits to leaving his guard down after the score with a long celebration as he was set upon by his teammates.

And he says the enormity of the occasion had been playing on his mind all week.

"It's amazing how the moment makes you do things you don't like doing but I really enjoyed it," he says of his jubilant celebrations after the score.

"It was a good team try and a good pass from Bundee so I was happy to get in the corner.

"I was saying to the lads, it was probably the worst week of my life with all the attention around the 100th cap.

"It's hell sitting on the bench, nerve-wracking. In my head I was 'Jesus, will he ever put me on? This will be very embarrassing after everything we’ve gone through’."

It had been a long, emotional week for the Limerick man, which peaked on Thursday when his family were brought into camp for the team's jersey presentation, with his wife Edel gathering a collection of good luck messages from old teammates and coaches which included Declan Kidney and Joe Schmidt and Brian O'Driscoll.

"It was a nice