Keith Wood says that Ireland should move on quickly from their 35-0 win over Russia, but take the positives of the performances of the likes of Dave Kilcoyne.
Speaking on Wednesday Night Rugby, the former Ireland captain believes that Ireland should not dwell on the performance in Kobe.
"Even though were in control of the game, I thought we looked shy on confidence, said Keith, before moving to the part the conditions may have played.
"What I do know is that when the weather is bad, or it is bit wet, it narrows the gap between the two teams, always.
"If you look at the manner in which Russia played, they played to not really have the ball too much. They ended up kicking a huge amount of ball because if they had it, it would be a liability to them.
"They played an incredibly sensible game for an amateur team trying to limit opportunities to a professional outfit. The weather helped them in that respect."
As for Ireland, Keith thinks that the performance did not do enough to restore confidence in the camp or among Ireland fans.
"For Ireland, we made too many mistakes. Yes, the ball is slippy - but I think that our confidence has taken a huge kicking against Japan.
"We played well against Scotland, but Scotland were abject against Ireland. Ireland played at a particular pace that would put a huge amount of teams under pressure.
"We are going up and down, up and down."
"The idea of looking back at this game - I don't ever want to look back at it again. I don't think that this is of any value to anybody.
"I would be saying 'There you go, we have the five points, let's just turf that bloody thing into the bin and then look and see what we can do for the next game."
With Samoa in mind, Keith believes that Joe Schmidt can look to the form of Dave Kilcoyne as one of the positives from Russia.
"Kilcoyne, for me, is the only Irish player that is getting over the gain line with ease - he is consistently doing it.
"He might only get a yard, but the difference that that yard makes to a scrum-half is extraordinary.
"Not only is he getting over the line, he is placing the ball incredibly well. When that happened, Ireland were a much, much better side."
Everyone’s in the Team Of Us.
Vodafone. The Official Sponsor of the Irish Rugby Team.
Subscribe to Off The Ball's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
