THE Republic of Ireland will meet England in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Bangkok, but only after Canada gave the Dublin trio of Ken Doherty, Fergal O'Brien and Stephen Murphy a major scare before the Irish won 10-6.

Captain Doherty's 85 break against Alain Robidoux gave the Group A winners a seemingly unassailable 8-2 advantage.

However for the next five frames, Canada battled back to trail 9-6 with four frames to play.

Robidoux seemed set to pull back another frame but world number 61 Murphy held his nerve to pot the final three colours to send the Republic through to their next round.

"That's probably the most pressure I have ever been under," said 27-year-old Murphy. "We got off to a great start but always expected the Canadians to come back at us because they never know when to give up.

"Thankfully we have got a day to recover from this match but we will be ready for England in the semi-finals."

Peter Ebdon saw his England side reach the semi-finals and then declared: "Nothing less than winning the trophy will be good enough for this team.

The tournament second favourites held off a late rally from Australia to record a 10-5 victory with struggling Nigel Bond clinching the final frame.

"I didn't think I was going to be needed again and opened myself a beer," grinned the world number five, who defeated Aussie skipper Rob by Foldvari, helped by a 51 break.

"Maybe that helped to relax me because I began to string a few balls together at the end. I'm still struggling but I feel my form is beginning to come together slowly."