McDermott hails Irish opener

Ireland prop Barrie McDermott gives BBC Sport Online his exclusive verdict on the Irish victory over Samoa in the Lincoln World Cup opener.

It wasn't such a great start to the match for us but what you've got to remember is that we haven't played together as a team before.

For the majority of the side it was the first time we had interacted on a game basis, so we're reasonable pleased with the performance, but delighted with the result.

And it was the result we wanted, the one we needed and ultimately the one we got.

I wouldn't say it was simply a matter of time, but deep down we were all confident that we would come through

  Barrie McDermott

The Samoans are well known for being tough-tackling and hard-running players, so we were confronted with the sort of opposition we expected and I thought they managed that right through from number one to 13.

Class

They more than matched us in the first half for forward domination but we just had that little bit of class out wide with Tommy Martyn and Ryan Sheridan running things in the middle of the park.

I wouldn't say it was simply a matter of time, but deep down we were all confident that we would come through.

The first 25 minutes of any match like that are like a game of chess, with one team trying to find out the other's weaknesses.

I think they knew the chink in our armour was the fact that we weren't as aware of each other as perhaps we could have been if we had had a warm-up game.

There are no excuses though. They perhaps had the edge over us, early on but the longer it went on, the better we got.

Incident

I was placed on report for an incident late in the game, but it was something and nothing really.

It was a very, very physical game, but thankfully I've since been told I've got nothing to answer for.

We've got Scotland next and there is a certain edge to that one with the Celtic connection.

With the majority of the players coming from English leagues it will be a totally different proposition.

It's the old adage though, let's take one step at a time and not look too far ahead.

For now, let's just enjoy our hard-earned victory.