Still moving in the right direction

Rugby:Ireland skipper Leo Cullen was in no mood to get carried away despite his side running in a hatful of tries and admitted Russia posed Ireland "a lot of problems" in Rotorua today.

Ireland moved a step closer to the quarter-finals with the bonus-point win. However, after conceding just 16 points in two previous games they were caught out twice as Vasily Artemyev and Denis Simplikevich scored second-half tries for Russia.

And Cullen, having skippered the much-changed Ireland side, said: "We tried a few different combinations this week. Russia posed us a lot of problems, particularly in the second half obviously getting two tries. But we'll take the win, move on and obviously reassess now as the week goes on."

Cullen admitted it was important to get the result after their sublime defeat of Australia.

"A few guys got opportunities this week to kind of back up the performance of last weekend and it was important we carried on the momentum," he added. “It's great so many people turned out today, the support has been phenomenal everywhere we have been."

Ronan O'Gara, the man of the match, was delighted with the performance of the team at a rain-sodden Rotorua International Stadium.

"We were keeping it simple. The conditions were poor, but the pitch is a great surface," he said. "We had good ball in hand, there were good passes and good strikes.

"It would be a huge waste of opportunity if we went home next week."

And Declan Kidney, who had made nine changes to his side from the team that shocked the Wallabies last week, was delighted with the contribution of his squad players.

"Tournament football is a little bit different I think than the other competitions we play," he said. "Over this tournament, you're going to delve into your resources.

"For some of the lads it would have been quite difficult when you're getting your first run in four or five weeks and the enthusiasm was brilliant.

"Once you get into the stage of the tournament when you are in knockout matches, you might have to call on them at any stage."