Andy Farrell's side eked out a 17-13 victory over Samoa in wet conditions, when errors across the board left the result in the melting pot right up to the finish
Conor Murray said Ireland had to "dig deep" in Bayonne to secure a record-breaking 13th Test victory on the spin."We were ready for it, we knew the conditions were going to be difficult," said scrum-half Murray, who scored an important 51st minute try after Ireland had gone 13-7 down."Samoa are a brilliant side when you give them loose ball and we probably coughed up too many loose balls, too many turnovers and they'll punish you.
"Credit to them but we probably left a few chances out there, especially set-piece wise in the first half and we're usually a lot better in those areas. "We can be happy the way we ground it out and we dig deep for each other but we'll have plenty to review on Monday, I'd imagine. It was a tough day."
Murray said that pre-World Cup squad announcement nerves didn't play a part in the inconsistent display."It's exciting, the squad hasn't been named yet and everyone tried to put their best foot forward tonight, I think we can be proud of how we stuck together. "It's going to be pretty hostile in France during the World Cup and Samoa had a lot of support in the stadium tonight.Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
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