Peter O'Mahony said he was very happy with Ireland's performance and points haul against a physical Russian side in their Pool A game in Kobe.
Ireland achieved a 35-0 bonus-point win, but didn't administer the 60-point drubbing that many had forseen.
After a positive start, Joe Schmidt's side again got bogged down, failing to score during the entire third quarter, and it wasn't until Andrew Conway's try just after the hour mark that the vital winning bonus point was secured.
However, the Munster flanker was relatively content with the performance, noting the difficulty of the conditions and paying tribute to the Russian resistance.
"You're always looking for more but I have to say we're very happy with the 30-odd points. I thought Russia were incredibly difficult to break down. You saw in the second half, we went a long period without a score.
Peter O'Mahony 'very happy' with 30-odd point win over Russia and praises the opposition physicality #IREvRUS pic.twitter.com/YuLsZJFWMi
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) October 3, 2019
"It was difficult conditions but we found a way around it. But to score 30-odd points against a quality Russian side in a World Cup game, I'm very happy with that.
"I thought the forwards gave a good platform. It certainly was difficult, there's no two ways about it, but we forged a way in. And I thought we created some nice tries.
"I thought it was a credit to Russia and their physicality. They put us under huge pressure breakdown-wise, they put the ball behind us a few times and we struggled to get out.
"But I'd certainly be happy with the performance."
Rob Kearney's try after 90 seconds seemed to signal a routine afternoon for Ireland, but they added only two more scores for the remainder of the half, O'Mahony himself and man of the match Rhys Ruddock steaming over for scores.
Then came the dreaded third quarter longueur where Ireland failed to nail down that bonus point.
It wasn't until a Jack Carty chip was latched onto by Keith Earls and he set Andrew Conway away that Ireland could relax.
The Irish flanker, however, attributes the third quarter struggles to Russia's quality at the breakdown.
"A lot of that 20 minutes pressure was down to Russia. The way they held the ball, the way they exited. We left a couple of our breakdowns light and you can't do that against these guys.
"They were very good over the ball, as we previewed beforehand, and we let them in there a couple of times which is something we're going to have to have a look at."
