Ireland captain Rory Best has been delighted with his side's reaction to their shock loss against Japan.

"I think after the Japan game (the 19-12 defeat in their second group match) we knew 10 points would get us through and we've got that in the last two games. The boys rolled up their sleeves," Best told ITV after their 47-5 win over Samoa that sets up a quarter-final against New Zealand or South Africa next weekend. 

"We know how good Samoa are and we knew they would come with no pressure on their shoulders and would come at us both in attack and defence.

"We stood up and at times we had to roll our sleeves up and it maybe wasn't that pretty, but I think we were very effective." 

When asked about the approach after the sending off of Bundee Aki in the 29th minute, Best said: "We've overcome red cards before and it's never ideal but I think it shows a lot of character about a squad, whenever you go down a man, how you adapt to that, and ultimately there was no panic and I think we just continued to attack them."

He added: "I think we share a lot of the leadership. We have some very, very smart players, some older, some younger and it is a really nice squad.

"We've built over the last two games. I think we started the tournament well and I think the big thing is that we never panicked.

"The most pressure we feel is what we put on ourselves, and we build well. We're in the quarter-finals - whatever happens tomorrow happens."