For Ireland coach Warren Gatland it was all about numbers. "Matt Mostyn got three tries, Keith got four and I wouldn't mind if someone scored five next week."

His sentiments captured the essence of the post-match inquisition - light-hearted and easy on the ear. In fairness, Gatland deserved to be happy as Ireland's performance was largely precise and at times hallmarked by real quality in the forward effort.

Gatland's overview echoed those sentiments: "It was a good start for us, a bit rusty at times but overall it was a good performance. The scrum was very strong our lineout was good and I'm delighted with the performance, delighted with the win."

Irish captain Dion O'Cuinneagain offered a similar view: "We thought we did our set phases very well and generally as a team we got out of the game what we wanted. We were hoping to beat them by 50 points and at half-time we set a target of scoring 30 points in the second half; we scored 29 and generally we feel that we are moving in the right direction.

"It was a game we had targeted to win and do it comfortably."

O'Cuinneagain then paid tribute to the vocal support that the team received on Saturday night. "The atmosphere generated by the crowd was incredible. Before the kick-off was a terribly emotional time for the players."

He made reference to the enthusiasm of the crowd and pointed out that their unstinting support helped the players to keep the momentum going.

Inevitably after the match the question of Keith Wood's performance arose, particularly the understated and shy way in which the player would reflect on his four-try salvo. Manager Donal Lenihan smiled: "Well, it's going to be as difficult to put up with him as it has been for the last two years." Gatland interjected: "That's why we took him off with five minutes to go, he'd scored four: if he had scored five he'd have been completely unbearable."

On a less flippant note, the Irish coach enthused: "For anyone to score four tries at Lansdowne Road is special. It was an outstanding performance. I said to him before the match that I thought he would have a big game. He was like a coiled spring ready to explode. He's been very sharp in training.

"He's looking for work. His performances can be inspirational and I think today was inspirational. The crowd respected his performance and gave him a fitting ovation after his fourth try."

US coach Jack Clark was quietly complimentary about Wood's performance, while US captain Dan Lyle initially offered nothing more substantial than, "I agree" when echoing his coach's sentiments. However when pressed again later, Lyle offered, in a very studied manner: "He's a fantastic player. He performed very well." There was just a hint in his US captain's demeanour that it was a platitude rather than a tribute.

Thoughts drifted towards Ireland's match against Australia at Lansdowne Road next Sunday and once again the composition of the Irish side and the possibility of a weakened team surfaced.

Gatland was unequivocal: "We're not in this tournament just to make up the numbers. We said after the second Test in Perth that we were looking forward to playing Australia at Lansdowne Road in front of a vocal crowd of 50,000 people.

"It's a sell out, it's going to be a spectacular game and we will be putting out a side to beat Australia. We think we are capable of doing that. We have one of the strongest scrums in the World Cup, I think our lineout's very strong and if we can concentrate and play for 80 minutes, we are confident that we can take on any side.

Post-match the Americans were philosophical rather than downbeat as epitomised by Clark. "I think we put in an all-out effort. I'm not happy that our turnovers were the largest source of possession for Ireland, let's be clear on that. I am not pleased with how reckless we were with the ball in hand but I was pleased with the fact that we continued to play defence.

"The last 20 got away from us a little bit, but we came out in the second half and continued to tackle the Irish boys, we tackled them hard and that's important. You can get into one of these David and Goliath things, you decide that your efforts are variable and I can tell you about a night in Twickenham when it happened: it did not happen tonight. They came after us looking for a scoreline."