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BORDEAUX - Ireland must improve on their opening performance against Namibia on Monday (NZ time) if they want to go far in the rugby World Cup, coach Eddie O'Sullivan said.
The Irish won 32-17 but were made to work a lot harder than they expected against the lowest ranked team in the tournament.
"It was the worst performance in a long time, very, very poor," O'Sullivan told a news conference.
"After 20 minutes I thought we would be OK but we just got worse as the game went on.
"There was an enormous amount of unforced errors. All in all it was very disappointing."
Ireland are in one of the toughest groups of the tournament and face the prospect of having to win their three remaining Pool D games against Georgia, Argentina and France to be assured of place in the quarter-finals.
"I can't remember us playing that badly, but we won the game and that is all you can say," O'Sullivan said.
Irish captain Brian O'Driscoll provided one of the few highlights for his team when he scored a try after just four minutes in his first match back from injury.
But his celebrations were partly soured when he injured his elbow and arrived at the news conference with his arm in a sling although he said it was not serious.
"It is only precautionary. I'll have it assessed when I get back to the hotel," he said.
"There is no need for an X-ray. I am hoping it is just a nerve."
O'Driscoll also said he was worried about Ireland's poor start but added there were still plenty of positives to take from the game.
"We still won the game, we scored five tries and got a bonus point and we've got three more (pool) games to play so there's no need to be pessimistic."
Namibia coach Hakkies Husselman said he was thrilled by his team's improvement after the Africans were humiliated 142-0 by Australia at the last World Cup in 2003.
"We played very well. It is not a win but it could have been a win," he said.
Namibia captain Kees Lensing, one of the few members of the team who play professionally, said he hoped their display would enable some of them to get contracts.
"If we keep playing like that I would not be surprised if some guys got offers to play professional in Europe," he said.
"The guys showed a lot of commitment, especially our amateur players.
"I hope our guys believe more now. We have to make fewer mistakes but it was a good match."
- REUTERS
