'Everyone is talking about England': Josh Rock insists 'no pressure' on Northern Ireland ahead of World Cup defence

Rock and countryman Daryl Gurney created history in Germany last year when they fired Northern Ireland to maiden World Cup glory, defeating Wales 10-9 in a dramatic final to spark emotional scenes of jubilation.

Broughshane native Rock, who sits seventh in the PDC rankings, returns to the same Frankfurt venue alongside Gurney with Northern Ireland’s campaign getting underway on Saturday – they received a bye to round two as one of the top-four seeds.

Reflecting on last year’s success as a career highlight, Rock says Northern Ireland will be going all out to retain world champion status, but knows they face a stern challenge in the shape of English duo Luke Littler and Luke Humphries.

The world’s top two, who were dumped out by Germany 12 months ago, are once again priced as overwhelming favourites.

Rock is entering the tournament without expectation and believes the pressure will be on England to deliver.

"It is just very, very hard to believe that's already been a year," Rock told Sky Sports. "It has been a very quick year so I'm really looking forward to it, there’s no pressure.

"I don't know how Daryl's feeling because I haven't really spoken to him much about it. I don't want to think about it much but I'm looking forward to defending this title.

"Obviously everyone is talking about England. Last year, no one really thought there was going to be anything but the Lukes winning it.

"So, it is probably the same feeling this year, even more so maybe this year, that because it didn't happen last year they're not going to let that happen again."

Rock has opened up on how his close relationship with Gurney set the foundations for their triumph, saying: “Daryl and I walked in together and left together at the World Cup last year. We went for lunch together, dinner together – pretty much did everything together.”

While Littler and Humphries struggled to click in their first tournament together, Rock hopes the Northern Irish connection can thrive again.

"You don't know if they're going to click or not again,” he added. “Pairs is a completely different game than it is to singles, so it's up to them to obviously give themselves a kick up the backside to work together.

"Everybody else just needs to worry about themselves.

"I think if you have a very close partnership it really, really helps a lot.

"It probably takes the pressure off each individual a lot more and obviously me and Daryl do a lot behind the scenes together, so that does help a lot.

"They (Littler and Humphries) are always going to be the top two because they are number one and two in the world.

"It is always going to be between them two and rightly so because they are the ones who are doing the business at the minute.

"Hopefully Daryl and I can sneak up through and win it again."