Jamison Gibson-Park: Scrum-half hopes for improved Ireland performance against Samoa
- Published
Jamison Gibson-Park clears his lines in Saturday's 29-10 win over England
Scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park hopes Ireland can "put out a better performance" in Saturday's final World Cup warm-up game with Samoa in Bayonne.
The Leinster player was part of Andy Farrell's side which scored five tries in defeating England 29-10 in Dublin.
"It was a bit frustrating because we don't like to make excuses, but we've been working hard and we were hoping to put in a better performance," he said.
"But I suppose happy with the result at the end of the day."
'Getting better at the building blocks we've built'
Gibson-Park believes there is much more to come from the Irish squad despite the outcome at the Aviva Stadium being a convincing one in Ireland's favour.
The home side looked somewhat rusty and disjointed, especially in the first half of the encounter with Steve Borthwick's team.
"The first half was pretty tough, pretty stop-start, and a lot of mistakes. It kind of had that pre-season feel to it," added the 31-year-old.
"If you put today [Saturday's win over England] aside, we were feeling really good as a squad.
"Credit to England though. They came to spoil the party, like they did in the Six Nations too.
"They came with a game-plan to shut us down and make it a bit messy, which I suppose they did in parts.
"I suppose we're just trying for the most part to get better at the building blocks we've built over the last three years."
Bundee Aki and Keith Earls combined for the latter to score Ireland's fifth try against England
The last of Ireland's five tries against England saw Keith Earls come off the replacements' bench to mark his 100th cap by accepting a precision pass from Bundee Aki and diving over to score in the corner.
"It was a pretty special moment. He [Aki] practices those passes so it was good to see him put his practices into a game I suppose.
"It was a quality ball but obviously 'Earlsy' still had a bit to do and it was a world class finish, like he's very good at doing."
Ireland are scheduled to announce their 33-man squad for the World Cup on 28 August, with their first pool match of the tournament against Romania on 9 September.