Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has revealed that he is confident that his side can begin their Rugby World Cup campaign with a win in their opening match against Canada.

Schmidt's men tasted defeat in their two warm-up games ahead of the tournament to Wales and England, but the 50-year-old believes that his side have made significant improvements and can start the competition with a victory.

"We have a degree of confidence around our set-piece. Our scrum and lineout have been operating well and those are areas that are really good access points for us in the game and ways to deny Canada access," Schmidt told reporters.

"We won't get ahead of ourselves. It's a moot point when we've got a game (ahead of us) and for us at any stage we'd always have a fear that we'd trip over the step in front of us if we were looking too far ahead."

Ireland face Canada at Millennium Stadium later today.