PREVIEW CANADA v IRELAND:IRELAND'S PREPARATIONS for the 2011 Rugby World Cup begin in earnest this evening in Vancouver, according to Declan Kidney, as the national team's fringe players take on Canada.

The Irish side, which features six first-time international starters, carried out the captain’s run at the University of British Columbia yesterday in preparation for the game which kicks off at 2pm local time (10pm Irish).

Darren Cave, John Muldoon, Niall Ronan and the three Ians (Whitten, Keatley and Dowling) will all don the senior Ireland jersey for the first time at the Thunderbird Stadium.

Declan Kidney said that he sees tonight’s game in Vancouver as the start of preparations for Ireland’s World Cup campaign in two years.

“The aim of having this tour was giving younger players the kind of experience you’d like them to have going into a World Cup.

“There were lads who were playing during the Six Nations this year with 60 or 70 caps to their name. While they were collecting them over the last number of years, that means there are also fellas who weren’t picking up the experience.

“We’ve decided to give that experience to some of those other players on this tour and opportunities like that are few and far between.

“Obviously we wouldn’t have picked these fellas if we didn’t think that they had some potential,” he said of the six debutants in the side this evening.

“Then again, it’s one thing to have potential but it’s another to bring it out on a big day, and it’s important that they do that because there are some players in Irish rugby now who mightn’t be around in two years time.

“You have to cover all bases and that’s why it’s important to have this tour.”

Earlier this week there were two main injury concerns for the Irish, with secondrow Bob Casey, returning after a nine-year international absence, and Ulster flanker Chris Henry considered potential cry-offs.

Defensive coach Les Kiss said, however, that both players had responded well to treatment during the week.

“Bob has had a bit of work done on his knee, it’s been bothering him for the last number of weeks but he is fine, and Chris, who’s on the bench, had some work done on his shoulder and he’s fine too.”

Kiss echoed his head coach’s insistence that the players featuring in this evening’s Test with Canada had every chance of becoming mainstays in the Irish team in the coming years.

“The truth is these guys have done the work, they’ve worked hard in their position and the circumstances have given them this chance to make the Irish jersey their own and play regular Test football,” said the Australian at the team’s base at Vancouver’s Sheraton Hotel.

“We definitely believe that there is a group of players here who want to put their hand up for Ireland. “This is their opportunity. There’s a lot of Heineken Cup and Magners League experience here and players who have experienced the build-up to the Six Nations, in a lot of cases.

“These players are going to own the Irish jersey for a day, and that’s all they’re guaranteed to own it for. It’s up to them to make that day count.”

CANADA: J Pritchard; D van Camp, C Hearn, R Smith, DTH van der Merwe; D Spicer, E Fairhurst; K Tkachuk, P Riordan, S Franklin, T Hotson, M Burak, C O'Toole, A Kleeberger, A Carpenter. Replacements: A Tiedemann, L Tait, J Sinclair, N Dala, SM Stephen, P Mack, A Monro.

IRELAND: G Duffy; B Murphy, D Cave, I Whitten, I Dowling; I Keatley, P Stringer; T Court, R Best (capt), T Buckley, B Casey, M O'Driscoll, J Muldoon, N Ronan, D Leamy. Replacements: S Cronin, M Ross, R Caldwell, D Ryan, E Reddan, N O'Connor, D Hurley.