O'Connell wary of Ireland's uncharacteristically poor Irish discipline

Putting 59 points on a side of the calibre of Tonga was no mean feat says Paul O'Connell, but the Ireland forwards coach is hopeful some ill-discipline in victory was nothing more than a blip.

Andy Farrell’s side geared up for next week’s Pool B showdown with South Africa with an impressive win in Nantes, having secured the bonus point before the interval.

For Tonga, there were glimpses of what they are about, though given it was their first outing and are still slotting some key players back into the national side, they were always up against it at Stade de la Beaujoire.

Their purple patch was either side of the break, Vaea Fifita getting over for a try and William Havili slotting over his third penalty on the back of huge pressure that saw Ireland get on the wrong side of referee Wayne Barnes.

The number-one ranked side however showed their class to press on, but the concession of 13 penalties will be a talking point among the coaching staff for a side known to keep indiscretions to a minimum.

Peter O’Mahony’s yellow card was their first sin-bin since Andrew Porter took a 10-minute break against the All Blacks 14 months ago.

"We had a tricky period either side of half-time where we got on the wrong side of the penalty count," O’Connell told RTÉ Sport. "You saw in the big games last weekend, when that happens it can hurt you.

"We conceded a try off the back of it, penalty after penalty and a yellow card, something we haven’t done in a while. It gives us something to work on now during the week. Otherwise it was really good.

"They are a good side, and probably would have benefitted from a game last week. They were a bit of an unknown quantity for us. We were worried about the emotion of the whole thing, it being their first