Irish happy to have notched first win

Ireland, fourth favourites for the Lincoln World Cup, vowed to make an improvement after producing a disjointed performance in an opening 30-16 win over Samoa in a scrappy Group Four match at a rainswept Windsor Park in Belfast.  

"The conditions were against us and a few lads have not played for a while so it was a matter of blowing the cobwebs off," said full-back Steve Prescott.

"A win's a win, we've got to go on from here."

The Irish led only 12-10 at half-time but pulled away after the break, with full-back Prescott scoring one of his side's five tries in addition to five goals.

Stand-off Tommy Martyn, Super League's player of the year, added: "Samoa had some very powerful forwards and we played into their hands in the first half but in the second half we had a bit more ball control and it was a fair result in the end.

"There is a long way to go. It was our first hit-out and we can only get better."