“Argentina have a far harder pack, which is much more ruthless,” he said.

“Ireland have been slow starters in their games so far as opposed to a lot of other sides.

“Our performance last night was better than the one we produced against Argentina in the previous game even though it does not tell on the scoreboard.

“Ireland do have better backs but Argentina play a much more positive game in the forwards – and they did not come up with any dirty play either.”

The last remark was reference to the incident involving Munster lock Paul O’Connell which the Irish camp are still waiting to find out whether it has landed him trouble.

O’Connell trampled on opposite number Archie Graham during a driving maul, although the mighty second-row claimed not to have seen his opponent on the ground.

After consulting his touch judge, Australian referee Andrew Cole awarded nothing more than a penalty against O’Connell, leaving Waterstone distinctly unimpressed.

Though the loud-mouth Namibian coach claimed to have cited O’Connell immediately after the game, the International Rugby Board have confirmed that such a move was not possible.

Instead it has been referred to the World Cup citing commissioner for investigation. He has to make a decision within 24 hours of the final whistle as to whether he will call the player to account.

If he were to be found guilty, O’Connell is facing the prospect of a recommended four-match suspension, which would effectively rule him out for the remainder of the competition.

Celebrating his 24th birthday today, O’Connell is already guaranteed the wholehearted support of the Irish camp, which coach Eddie O’Sullivan confirming legal backing would be provided should the player be called to a hearing, which would be held in Sydney early this week.

“We have legal back-up if we need it but that is looking too far ahead just now,” said O’Sullivan.

“To be honest I am surprised by the Namibians’ reaction. When the incident happened it looked innocuous. The touch judge and referee got together and decided it was a penalty but nothing more than that.

“Paul was at the front of a maul going up the field which his back to the Namibian line. He seemed to stumble over their player more than anything and I actually thought he was going to fall over, which could have been quite dangerous given the amount of weight going forward.

“He may have stepped on the lad but there was nothing malicious in it. He couldn’t see where he was going. That is why we are so taken aback.”

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan declared himself happy with his team’s overall performance last night, in which they scored three tries in the opening 14 minutes to make Waterston's ’slow-starters’ claim somewhat baffling.

In atrocious conditions, Ireland overcame a brief lull and eventually romped in for 10 touchdowns to seal their second successive bonus point win.

“When we saw the rain, we decided on an old-fashioned Munster Cup approach - tuck it up your shirt and drive forward,” said O’Sullivan.

“A few years ago, Irish sides would have welcomed conditions like those.

“That’s not the case anymore but trying to execute overlaps was almost impossible, so we had to go for the driving mauls.”