Ireland coach Andy Farrell said that his team's 38-17 thrashing of France on Feb 2 gave them invaluable momentum in their bid to retain their Six Nations rugby title.
The Irish outscored France - reduced to 14 men after lock Paul Willemse was red-carded in the 32nd minute - five tries to two in Marseille to consign the hosts to their heaviest defeat since Fabien Galthie took over as head coach in 2019.
"We'd take any type of win, on a Friday night in Marseille to kick off the Six Nations," said Farrell, praising his team's composure.
"The more the game went on, the more you saw the performance building. It wasn't all singing, all dancing. But we were pretty ruthless when we needed to be."
Looking ahead to the next match on Feb 10, the coach added: "It's a good start. We have Italy next and getting off to a good start was always going to be a tough ask here.
We've done that now so we need to grow off the back of it."
In a Test between two sides whose high World Cup hopes were cruelly crushed in the quarter-finals last October, Ireland showed they clearly have recovered better.
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