LONDON, England -- An undefeated Ireland can finally face up to the France fixture that has been overshadowing their Rugby World Cup campaign, according to Conor Murray.
The scrum-half revealed his Ireland teammates have been trying to maintain a vow of silence towards the French as they set about the business of qualifying for the quarterfinals from Pool D.
However, after Ireland secured their place in the last eight with a gruelling 16-9 victory over Italy at London's Olympic Stadium, Murray admitted attention could finally turn to a "massive" clash with France, victory in which would see his side avoid favourites New Zealand in the next round.
"It's massive," Murray told ESPN. "It was hard not to talk about it for the last few weeks, because a lot of the fans were asking questions about it. It was in the back of everyone's minds a little bit, and now it's come around.
"We've got three wins, albeit we would have liked to play better today. We've got a week to get things right and build ourselves up for a massive game."
After cruising to big wins over Canada and Romania in their opening fixtures, Ireland were far from their fluent best against a determined Italy side on Sunday. Buoyed by the return of skipper Sergio Parisse, the Azzurri were tough in the tackle and at the breakdown, but Murray insisted it was no more than Ireland expected.
"Credit to Italy, they made it difficult for us from the beginning," he said. "We knew that they would pose a physical threat, in defence especially. We found it hard to break them down at times. When we did get in their 22, we just weren't clinical enough with the ball. Had we converted a couple of chances we would have got off to a better start.
"The main aim was to qualify and we've qualified. We know we're a lot better than that. We're happy we're through after a scrappy win and we know that in a week of training we can fix a lot of the things that didn't go to plan."
There were hints of frustration with referee Jerome Garces, who ensured Ireland would finish the game with 14 men after showing Peter O'Mahony a yellow card for clearing out a ruck with his shoulder.
However, O'Mahony's back-row partner Sean O'Brien admitted Ireland did themselves no favours with the inaccuracy of their game and have hard work ahead if they are to see off France and finish top of the pool.
"Certain things didn't go our way in the game obviously, but we didn't help ourselves at times," O'Brien said. "We were sloppy with some of our play and probably played a little bit too much in our own half.
"We know as a group of players that nothing's going to be easy and we knew that Italy were going to be a different kettle of fish, especially with Parisse back. He gives them a lot of belief and is such a great leader for them.
"We're going to have to review an awful lot and make sure we're on our game for next week. If we're not France are so dangerous that they'll punish you."