Ireland coach Declan Kidney expressed relief that Samoa are not in Ireland's World Cup 2011 pool after his side emerged victorious from a tough game at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

Samoa, the world ranked no.11 side, felt hard done by leaving Dublin on the wrong end of a 20-10 scoreline, and the Ireland coach admitted they were never going to be a soft touch for his under-pressure squad.

"I'm glad they're (Samoa) not in our World Cup group," Kidney admitted.

"They're a tough physical side, it was a bit of an arm wrestle and they kept us tied down a lot.

"We have a huge amount of work to do, I'm not hiding behind that. They were what I expected them to be, they adapted better to the conditions than I thought they would.

"Their try gave them a bit of momentum and we were nervous afterward, and as a result we turned the ball over trying a few things, but that was part of the reason it was the game it was."

Jamie Heaslip scored a first half try that Ronan O'Gara converted and gave Ireland a 10-0 lead at one stage.

But a cracking try from Alesana Tuilagi brought the visitors right back into the tie.

Down just 13-10 halfway through the second half Samoa looked the more likely to emerge victorious before a counter attack finished off by O'Gara gave the scoreline an unfair appearance.

Samoa skipper Mahonri Schwagler was proud of his squad, and said that with better preparation they could have left Dublin with a win.

"We came with the attitude we can compete, gave it all we got and we should have won the game," he said.

"But that's why they're (Ireland) up there, they make less mistakes.

"I'm proud of my boys and we could have won ... these teams have more time and money to put teams together, so yes, we probably could have won in other circumstances.

"I think Ireland got away with a few things but I think we still had chance to win the game in last 15 minutes."

Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll was a forlorn figure on a day of few opportunities, as Ireland's set pieces failed to provide him with much time on the ball.

The home scrum was pressured for the second week in a row, with Kiwi referee Keith Brown's timing of the setpiece a controversial point of discussion post-match.

"If all referees adjudicate like that we won't be the only ones to have problems (in the Autumn series)," claimed O'Driscoll.

"The boys told me there were huge delays between calling and it is difficult when you're trying to get the dominant hit each time, and make sure you're right on the call.

"The longer the hold is, the tougher it is to get that hit, it will be interesting to see if the ref prolongs that call in other games.

"Either way, I thought we were worth our win in the end, and irrespective how you do it, it's nice to be back to winning ways, to remind yourself what that feeling is like.

"There's no better week to do it than ahead of the visit of the All Blacks."

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