Samoans swept aside without fuss

Workmanlike was the adjective used in separate settings in the immediate aftermath of Ireland's win over Samoa in Lansdowne Road yesterday by Warren Gatland and Ronan O'Gara, and that was as apt as any to describe Ireland's fairly perfunctory 35-8 win.

The primary purpose of the exercise was to nail down another win without Ireland being caused too much embarrassment or any injuries. On both counts, Gatland's team seem to have managed that much, even if both captain for the day, Anthony Foley, and his back-row sidekick Eric Miller were hauled ashore during the interval.

Foley sustained a sore neck from a high tackle and Eric Miller slightly strained a groin but although the extent of the injuries won't become clear until today at least, according to Gatland, "it just wasn't worth putting them out in the second-half."

Of more concern are the injuries to two of those who didn't play yesterday, David Humphreys and David Wallace, each of whom is only rated a 50-50 chance for Saturday's Test against New Zealand. "The others are fine. Unfortunately David (Wallace) is not responding as well as he should have to his shoulder treatment and as regards David (Humphreys) his ankle could cause problems as well. We've got a recovery and rest day tomorrow (Monday), so we'll know more by tomorrow evening."

As regards Ireland's performance yesterday, the Irish coach said: "I suppose we've got to be satisfied. We knew it was going to be a lot tougher than the Samoans' performance against the Development side last Sunday indicated, and it was. You've got to be happy with 35-8, given the number of changes and injuries we had and the disruptions we had during the week. So I suppose we come away from the game pretty satisfied."

There'll have been frustration with the fastidious performance of Iain Ramage, whose apparent lack of empathy with the crowd of 27,000 and the two sets of players was ably manifested when he was playing advantage to Ireland as they drove a lineout close-in, and then as Peter Stringer moved the ball out blew his whistle to give them another penalty to touch because they hadn't released the ball quickly enough for his liking.

There was also an abiding sense of frustration within the home dressing-room over Ireland's failure to break free before a couple of good quality tries in the final 10 minutes sealed the win. "We did it in the last 20 minutes, but we should have been doing that in the first-half," bemoaned Brian O'Driscoll on television afterwards. But like most of us, he'll have forgotten about it before long.

Attention now switches to the All Blacks, who are in Ravenhill tomorrow night for a warm-up game against an Irish A side which has suffered further disruptions. The latest changes have seen both of the midfield pairing, Jonathan Bell and John Kelly, withdraw through injury. Jason Holland, whose eligibility under the three-year residential ruling only came through this month, has been drafted in and will form a new centre combination with Justin Bishop. James Topping is on the wing as Bishop switches inside.