Simon Zebo accepts Ireland performance was a bit rusty

Simon Zebo insists Ireland still have plenty of work to do ahead of next month's Rugby World Cup after claiming claimed a hard-fought 28-22 victory over Scotland at the Aviva Stadium.

Ireland, who convincingly beat Wales in Cardiff last weekend, dominated the opening half but had only Chris Henry's try to show for it as the visitors levelled through Blair Cowan.

Joe Schmidt's side did not expect to see the Scots storm out of the traps in the second half but despite conceding further touchdowns to Henry Pyrgos and Peter Horne, they were able to claim their second victory in a week with tries from Seán Cronin, Zebo and Luke Fitzgerald.

“We’re still a bit rusty and it’s still early on – and first games after holidays coming back in are Test matches so it’s a tough standard to jump straight into,” said Zebo.

“We’re happy with the progress we’re making and hopefully we can continue that way.

"The players around me did very well. When we had the opportunities we got good ball and it's made a lot easier running off the likes of Ian Madigan, Isaac Boss and Jared Payne. "

Defeat was tough on Scotland and captain Pyrgos admitted he and his players were disappointed not to have secured a morale-boosting victory in their opening warm-up encounter.

“I think we put ourselves in a position (to win the game),” he said.

“We went ahead three times in the second half but unfortunately we didn’t get out of our half very well and let Ireland back into it.

“Congratulations to them, they played really well and it’s a good win for them but we’re hugely disappointed because we came here to get a win and we didn’t get a win.”