Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan paid tribute to fellow new boy Mike Ford after the former Oldham rugby league boss helped to mastermind his side's 54-10 Six Nations defeat of Wales.

The Lansdowne Road visitors reached the gain line only nine times compared to Ireland's 30, conceded 14 penalties to Ireland's seven and lost seven line-outs.

"I thought our defence was excellent and since we brought a defensive coach, Mike Ford, in he's done a lot of hard work on that," said O'Sullivan.

"We're not 100% happy but we are pleased with the results so far."

O'Sullivan celebrated a winning start to his Ireland coaching career - but quickly warned fans not to get too carried away.

"It's possible we will start thinking too far down the road but we're going to Twickenham, to play England. If that doesn't sober the mind, nothing else will," he added.

O'Sullivan, who was promoted from his role as assistant coach following the departure of Warren Gatland in December, admitted the size of the victory was way beyond his expectations.

"I'd have taken 1-0 at 10 to two the way the wind was going," he said.

"We got a very good start to the game, we got the wind at our backs and a few early scores on the board which settled us down.

"We turned round at half-time with a sizeable lead and it was important to start the second half well, defend well and maybe pick up a couple of breaks. That's what happened."

Wales coach Graham Henry admitted there were no excuses for his side's record loss.

"I'm very disappointed with the way we played," said the Lions boss.

"We've got no excuses, we didn't play well with the ball or without it and we had some difficult periods early on in the game.

"We gave a lot of penalties away, which we need to look at, and we've lost a couple of players through injury.

"We just need to band together very tightly and look to the next one."

Henry, however, refused to accept that the result would put his position under pressure.

"I don't think anything's changed," he said. "No matter who you're coaching or what time it is, if you're coaching at international level you're going to get pressure.

"All we can do as coaches is to do our best and keep working at it to the best of our ability. I'm sure that's what we will do and so will the players."