Ireland head coach Tom Tierney was happy to win ugly last night but admits his side must improve to make the knockout stage of the tournament.
His charges laboured to a 19-17 victory over Australia in their opening pool c game at the women's World Cup
Ireland's next opponents Japan suffered a 72-14 loss to France in the other Pool C game last night.
Tierney believes the huge build-up to the game left his players nervous:
“There was a lot of pressure on the girls, a lot of tension before the game and during the game which you can see from the key areas where we let ourselves down at critical times.
“To get the win that’s all that matters, to be honest personally myself in pool stages I don’t care how we win as long as we win.
“It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t as clinical as we wanted it to be but we got that Australia game out of the way and it’s on to Japan and its going to be full focus for that with key areas to work on but we’re up and running thankfully.”
Tom Tierney: "In pool stages I don't care how we win as long as we do win" pic.twitter.com/8f9eFiWfm4
— 98FM Sport (@98FMsport) August 10, 2017
