England hooker James Roby is expecting a backlash from Ireland when the two sides meet at John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield on Saturday (2.30pm).

Ireland lost their opening game against Fiji on Monday and must beat England to have a realistic chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals, but Roby feels prepared for what the Wolfhounds have to offer.

“We know a little bit about what to expect from them,” said Roby. “A lot of their players play in England, so we’ve seen them quite a lot over the last few years.

“We watched some of their last game, and both Ireland and Fiji were very physical, and with there being a bit of a rivalry there too, they’ll come at us fired up.

“It’s probably fair to say that we’re expected to get the win, but I’m sure they’re not thinking like that. They’ve got a very good coach in Mark Aston, who’ll be getting them up for it.

“Their defeat to Fiji probably makes it harder for us. They’ve got to win so they’ll make it as tough as possible. We’ll have to be at the top of our game. There are no opportunities to slip up.

“Ireland have a point to prove. They surprised everyone at the last World Cup, so you can’t write anyone off. It’s going to make for an exciting tournament for everyone watching.”

England relinquished an early lead to go down 28-20 to Australia on Saturday, but Roby says he was happy with the overall performance.

“We started well,” he said. “We had the 10-point lead and let it slip which was disappointing. We made a few handling errors at the back end of the first half and made mistakes early on with our tackles which gave them territory.

“But on the whole, when you look at the statistics from the game, they suggest that they should’ve won by more, so we did well to defend our line and make it as close as it was.

“Unfortunately we let our guard down. If we could’ve maintained that high standard, stuck to our game plan and completed more sets it might have been different.”

Despite the defeat and being embroiled in a media storm following Gareth Hock’s removal from the squad, Roby says that team spirit is still high.

“Everyone’s feeling good at the moment,” he said. “The appearance against Australia was a step up from the Italy game and it’s what we needed. To only lose by eight showed how close we were.

“We looked at some pointers and statistics to see where we let ourselves down with errors and penalties, and now we’re all looking forward to Saturday.

“We’re not looking at outside expectations. It’s a long tournament that we’ve just got to take week by week. Every game will be a tough game so we’ll be taking it all as it comes.”