Ireland finished their Rugby World Cup warm-up games with a defeat to Canada, albeit one that had marked plusses.The side had started poorly for the second week running and improved in the second-half for the second week running.But while they had managed to overhaul Scotland in Cork, they had fallen too far adrift of Canada in Belfast.As it was, Canada scored five first-half tries to lead 33-7 at the break before a spirited Irish second-half saw the game finish 47-26 in the visitor's favour. READ MORE: First-half poor, second-half better, for Ireland against Canada Stacey Flood was impressive in attack from full-back, Dannah O'Brien may have settled any lingering doubts as to whether she should be retained at out-half.Wingers Anna McGahan and Beibhhinn Parsons shared the tries, scoring two apiece.Linda Djougang, Fiona Tuite and Grace Moore were lively in the pack while there was a salutary lesson with regard to Sam Moynihan who was put on the bench and was a game changer when brought on at half-time.Former England international Ellena Perry came on for Niamh O'Dowd after 55 minutes and will gain some of the second-half credit on offer.Head coach Scott Bemand reveals his squad on Monday."We wanted to test ourselves, wanted to understand how we get momentum and can maintain momentum against powerful, well drilled teams," said Bemand afterwards."I think that second half was good but it was disappointing to concede at the very end, to the last play."We're winning that second half reasonably well in terms of position and possession so it's a bit disappointing to concede that score."But I think certainly what we can look at is, if we were after performance and momentum, we definitely got to it in the second half."Bemand suggested the squad was not 'picked' before the Canada game and there had been enough on show to make selection extra difficult."There's a lot of girls that put their hands up which is really pleasing."As that second half showed, we've got more than just a 15, we've got a squad, have got people that can come on and people who make differences to the game."So, yes, there are people that have put their hands up. I'm delighted for them and we will see about squad selection now."Ireland had been able to stay in the fight, had not wilted."We're always assessing where we are physically, the girls actually get used to performing with that pressure. It's the nature of what we do, it is elite sport and I think over the last two years, we certainly got better in that space.The coach disagreed Ireland had sold themselves short by only having two warm-up games before the World Cup."No, I don't think we're undercooked. I think we come out relatively well physically."If you look at going to a competition that's six weeks long, if we get to the end, we are going to need fit and fresh bodies that are ready and prepared to play, so the more you take out yourself doesn't help."You have got to use competition to build as well, that's the benefit I've taken of my being involved in the last two World Cups, I've learned a lot from that."So we're not peaking yet but we certainly will peak as we go through the World Cup." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.