Ireland welcome an unforgiving New Zealand side to the Aviva Stadium next Saturday off the back of ruthless defeats of Scotland and England, so Kidney insists their win over Samoa was a timely confidence boost ahead of the mammoth task.

"Anxiety will always be there when you've lost a few matches," Kidney said.

"We were a bit anxious going into Samoa. The first 20 minutes went well but then they scored their try and the anxiety crept in a little bit.

"When you're winning you take it for granted, when you're losing it's bound to bite.

"It wasn't exactly an attractive game against Samoa but we managed to win and after the last six matches that's a plus.

"We have to sit down and admit that we need a bit of work and that bits need some improvement. But the more matches you win, the higher the confidence will be.

"Our confidence will be better going into Saturday than it was coming into Samoa and now I don't think their confidence is that bad."