JAMES Mendeika is adamant that The Wolfhounds are worthy of a semi-final berth at the Rugby Word Cup.

The former Warrington Wolves centre’s Irish side faces Fiji in a tough opener at Rochdale tonight but he will be cheered on from the stands by his dad Paul, Blackburn Council’s business and registration manager, and his cousins from Galway.

The new Featherstone Rovers addition has faith in his squad’s mettle as they also seek to overcome England and Australia in Group A and emulate their 2008 showing.

Mendeika said: “I think we all know what Fiji bring. They will bring athletes, but they have also got a lot of skill in their backline. I feel that we have also got a lot of skill, brawn and speed though.

“The first game is always vital but being in a group with England and Australia where we play them after Fiji does make the first game more important.

“The Fiji game is obviously the priority, but we have been preparing our setup in training for our game in general, so we will be in a better position when the Australia and England games come around.

“But if the result doesn’t go our way, we won’t be counting ourselves out, we will still have a chance. We are all feeling really confident and positive.”

“If anything, we have probably benefitted from not playing last week. It has allowed our training to be more intense. We have had double sessions and we have been able to focus on other things.

“If we had played a game then you have got to prepare for that game and then recover afterwards. This way we have been able to focus solely on the World Cup games.”

Mendeika, who spent his final season with Warrington on loan at Swinton Lions, where he ended up leading try scorer, believes Ireland’s lack of a trial game will not hold them back.

He added: “I am not sure winning a warm-up game means much to the smaller teams. But I think it acts as a reminder to the bigger nations that we’re all going to be competitive.

“I think it makes things more exciting for the fans, definitely. It reminds them that there aren’t going to be any easy wins and that every game will be competitive.

“There have been a lot of changes within the squad and the staff since 2008 but having seen how we did in 2008 we are looking to match that at least, if not go one better.

“We got to a certain point five years ago so there is no reason why we can’t do it again.”