Our hard work is paying off but wehavemoreto do: Henderson

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Henderson added: “In World Cups, when you’ve a few injuries and not that many subs left, it’s not ideal. People want to show they can play 80 minutes.”

It wasn’t just Best proving some doubters wrong.

Ireland’s World Cup preparations were scrutinised during the summer, most notably after a humiliating day against England in Twickenham last month.

Having put in their most complete performance for 18 months on the occasion of their first World Cup clash, and already able to have one eye on a likely quarter-final with South Africa, they must now feel they have timed their run to perfection.

“It was good to see the work from the couple weeks since the last game and the whole pre-season prep coming along nicely,” Henderson said. “I still think there’s a lot to work on but it was good to get that sort of performance and result first game up.

Henderson was prominent throughout, creating Ireland’s first score with a gallop through the Scottish rearguard and acting as primary lineout caller at a set-piece that claimed 12 from 12.

“For five minutes after it I wasn’t feeling great,” he laughed of his lengthy burst. “When you see someone else doing that it gives a massive lift, it gets me excited. There was unbelievable support in the clear out and then James Ryan with the try.”

Ireland will be on the move today, switching from their Yokohama base before taking on Japan in Shizuoka on Saturday.

“We all know what Japan have done to big teams at the World Cup before,” warned Henderson. “We just have to concentrate and get our stuff right for next week.” AFTER his side were thumped by Ireland to open their World Cup, Scotland coach Gregor Townsend bemoaned his side’s slow start, admitting they “missed the first 20 minutes”.

Ireland began the contest in storming fashion, scoring the game’s first try after only six minutes through James Ryan. Using their tight five as a platform, front-rowers Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong both got over themselves inside the opening 25 minutes.

And while Scotland have shown an ability to dig themselves out of such holes before, most notably at Twickenham in the Six Nations this year, there was to be no comeback this time around, leaving Townsend searching for answers as to how his side could have started so slowly in a game that has been on the horizon for so long.

“We missed that first 20 minutes and credit to Ireland, they started well and put points on the board,” said the former Lions out-half.

“We didn’t start with the energy, the accuracy or the aggression required to beat a team like Ireland.

“They started well and took their chances when they got into our ‘22’.

“More than any other team in World Rugby probably if you give them a 15-20 point lead it’s very difficult to come back.”

It was certainly a curious opening from the Scots, Ireland’s expected dominance of the forward exchanges even more pronounced than Joe Schmidt would have dared hope.

“That’s what we’re asking each other,” added Townsend when pressed for why his side were so far from the required level.

“The energy wasn’t there, it wasn’t as high as it needs to be to beat a team like Ireland. That wasn’t (the case) in the warmups. A few players hadn’t played for a few weeks, certainly we’d trained well. We just missed the start of that game and that’s very disappointing.”

With Samoa and then Russia to come, before a four-turnaround to face Japan in a game now likely to have a last eight spot as the prize for the winner, they must improve quickly.

“We need to win the next three games. If we had have won today we’d have needed to win the next three games.

“We have to bounce back and play a lot better against Samoa, carry it on against Russia and then especially against Japan who started well.”