Ireland take inspiration from soccer teams north and south

By Padraic Halpin CARDIFF (Reuters) - Ireland's rugby squad from the Northern province of Ulster to the southern tip of Munster drew inspiration ahead of Sunday's World Cup showdown with France from the Northern Irish and Irish soccer teams' heroics. Northern Ireland reached their first major tournament in 30 years and their neighbours south of the border beat world champions Germany to take a big step towards joining them at Euro 2016 in a memorable night for Irish football on Thursday. Ireland's rugby team play as part of an all-island team and the players watched both games at their base in Cardiff with coach Joe Schmidt, a stickler for detail, being particularly impressed by Shane Long's winner against the Germans. "A super effort, Shane Long's touch and his finish were exceptional, you have to take your hat off to that type of skill. It was fantastic to see the enthusiasm around that," Schmidt told a news conference on Friday. "I know they're up again on Sunday after us and it would be great to have a genuine super Sunday of Irish sport. I've no doubt the fans will vacate the stadium pretty quickly and get to somewhere they can watch that game (against Poland) and make a similar amount of noise." Ulster hooker Rory Best, who is from the Northern Irish county of Armagh, was thrilled to see the North qualify for their first major finals since the 1986 World Cup, when he was just three years old. "We were sort of watching both of them. To qualify is brilliant. The boys have been great the whole way through this campaign. It was very inspirational for us to watch both games," Best said. The soccer successes capped off a week when motivation was sought from a range of Irish sports stars after the rugby team were addressed over dinner by former world boxing champion Barry McGuigan, Olympic silver medallist runner Sonia O'Sullivan and champion jockey AP McCoy. "Obviously, there were great stories and we had good chats but I think there is something special about Irish people and that massive level of colloquialism we have," Ireland fullback Rob Kearney told reporters. "Bringing all those Irish icons over to us in Wales just brought that all back to us and it was a great touch. A big thing for us is about being Irish and that helped build it." Ireland play France on Sunday in Cardiff in a game that will decide who finishes top of Rugby World Cup Pool D and avoids world champions New Zealand in the quarter-finals. (Editing by Ed Osmond)