As facile as expected, if a good deal more farcical. Ireland will no doubt again be accused of bringing the bad weather with them, but after glorious sunshine for much of the week a thunderstorm was hardly what they'd bargained for.

In the circumstances, a record World Cup win by 64-7 over Namibia in Sydney's Aussie Stadium was as much as could be expected.

With no injuries picked up, the only downside was the threat of Paul O'Connell being cited for an alleged stamping incident midway through the second period. The Namibia coach, Dave Waterston, told both Eddie O'Sullivan and the media that he intended to cite the Irish lock and that the matter had been referred to the match commissioner, Douglas Hunter.

However, the competition rules state that no team, or their management, can cite opposition players. They clearly state that a citing complaint must be made by the citing commissioner to a designated disciplinary official within 24 hours of the completion of the match in which the illegal and/or foul play is alleged to have occurred.

As of last night in Sydney, the match press officer, Bob Burrows, confirmed that no citing had been made against O'Connell. However, at the behest of the Namibians, Hunter, the designated citing commissioner for the match, will view the incident on video today.

Were O'Connell, who has risen to the challenge of his more responsible role and had another big game yesterday, cited and suspended even for one match it would be a hammer blow for Ireland, particularly as Gary Longwell is injured and the only listed stand-by lock, Leo Cullen, requires a shoulder operation.

Ireland would be down to two locks, Malcolm O'Kelly and Donnacha O'Callaghan, who wasn't used yesterday.

If found guilty of stamping on an opponent's torso, O'Connell would face a four-week ban which would effectively end his World Cup. That would be a devastating birthday present for the player, who turns 24 today.

For his part, O'Sullivan expressed his surprise that Waterston had made such an issue of the incident.

One of many Irish lineout mauls had been rumbling forward when O'Connell's boot twice came down on the Namibian lock Archie Graham. The touchjudge, Stuart Dickinson, drew referee Andrew Cole's attention to it, and he in turn penalised Ireland and warned O'Connell.

"I'm a bit surprised by it," admitted O'Sullivan. "The incident at the time looked reasonably innocuous, although it was flagged. But having said that, the touchjudge and the referee decided it was a penalty, and it wasn't a yellow card, according to the officials."

O'Sullivan maintained that O'Connell "stumbled over" Graham "and almost lost his footing. He tried to get over the player and I didn't see any malice in it. I am taken aback by it, and my worry (at the time) was that he would fall and get hurt."

However, Waterston was having none of it and maintained that the incident "was of such a magnitude" that it merited citing. Stressing that O'Sullivan had put together a fine side, that the Irish were "damned nice people" and that as rugby playing nations the two countries had a good relationship over many years, Waterston said: "It's a pity that one incident put such a tarnish on what was a clean game until that happened. It's just unfortunate. I wish Ireland well in the World Cup."

However, in response to O'Connell's claim to the referee at the time that he did not see the prone figure of Graham, Waterston ventured: "He must be Mr Magoo. If he didn't see our player he needs to join a Braille club because he went back to step on him a second time."

Just as contentiously for the Irish camp, the Namibian captain, Sean Fuhrer, commented that "Argentina are much stronger in the scrums and definitely they are stronger than Ireland. To play Ireland wouldn't be so hard as Argentina."

Although Waterston also said that "the Argentinian pack are certainly a much harder group" of forwards than Ireland's, he didn't go so far as his captain.

"I'm not so sure if from number 10 onwards if Sean's assessment is accurate. I would say that Ireland are one of the slow starters in this competition, but perhaps that's a good thing. But certainly the Argentine forwards seem a lot harder and a lot more positive."

O'Sullivan himself looked and sounded content with Ireland's display, which yielded a record win in the competition as well as a record number of tries, 10 in all.

"I'd have to say I'm pretty happy with that. We haven't had these conditions since Lansdowne Road in the autumn," added the Irish coach, who had, ironically, observed last November that the conditions then would have no relevance in Oz.

A torrential downpour came down about an hour before kick-off and remained throughout the game. You had to see it to believe it.

"I was a little bit concerned that conditions would deteriorate when the rain came in. It certainly would have levelled the playing field. But we started in a very focused way and we got early scores on the board. By and large we kept our focus.

"If we were guilty of anything it was that we tried to force things a few times. But 10 tries in those conditions was a pretty good day's work and I thought the pack were outstanding today."

For the second time under O'Sullivan, Ireland have equalled the old landmark of seven successive wins. Admittedly, the standard of opposition hasn't always been of the highest order - Tonga, Samoa, Wales, Italy, Scotland, Romania and now Namibia - though Ireland can do little more than put them away convincingly. And in the process they have scored 41 tries, 32 in their five games this season.

The flip side of this coin is that, like the conditions here, this probably hasn't been the ideal preparation for next Sunday's pivotal encounter with the Pumas in Adelaide.

As Clive Woodward is wont to say, that will definitely be full on, massively full on.

Rugby World Cup: Pages 2-4