Canada game 'well-timed' before World Cup - Bemand

Bemand will lead Ireland in the Rugby World Cup in England later this month

Rugby World Cup warm-up: Ireland v Canada

Venue: Affidea Stadium, Belfast Date: Saturday, 9 August Kick-off: 12:00 BST

Coverage: Live on BBC iPlayer and website with live text commentary on the website and app

Ireland head coach Scott Bemand says their final warm-up game against Canada presents an "ideal opportunity" for his side to test themselves against a "World Cup contender".

Canada are ranked second in the world and are in Pool B for the World Cup in England where they will face Scotland, Wales and Fiji.

Ireland will take on Japan, Spain and reigning champions New Zealand in Pool C and Bemand believes the Canada game will be good preparation for what is to come at the tournament.

"Them being number two in the world I think is well deserved. They have really taken their game up levels in the last four years and it is going to be a challenge, but we need that and we want a battle before we head into the World Cup," he told BBC Sport NI.

"It is well-timed. We want to get our best performance out there to tee us up for the next six weeks."

'We want to get rugby into people'

Bemand has opted to make 10 changes from the side that fought back to beat Scotland in Cork last week as he assesses his players for a final time before naming his squad for the World Cup on Monday.

Wing Beibhinn Parsons, fly-half Dannagh O'Brien and the back row of Grace Moore, Ivana Kiripati and Brittany Hogan are the only players to retain their places from the victory.

Despite the numerous alterations, Bemand hopes his side are competitive against Canada, whom they lost 21-8 against in the WXV 1 series last year.

"We want to get rugby into people and it's a good chance for them to stake a claim," he added.

"Canada have got a physical threat, they are incredibly athletic as a team, but we want to be really hard to play against and we want to get set-piece and defensive pressure on them and fire shots in attack.

"In terms of result, we are never going to stand here and say we don't want to win this game, we want to win this game, but the bigger thing will be around performance and momentum."