Ireland head coach Andy Farrell is ready to embrace a blockbuster World Cup showdown with South Africa, but acknowledged his team will have to go up a level after their 59-16 defeat of Tonga.
It was a good night all round in Nantes as Johnny Sexton became Ireland's top points scorer in a second bonus-point win on the bounce.
With a maximum return of 10 points from their two Pool B games, Ireland will now head to Paris for a mouthwatering clash with the Springboks.
"Well, we'll have [go up a gear] to but I think we went up another gear today," Farrell told RTÉ Sport.
"We know the task in hand, we're playing against a great side in South Africa but that's what you want, that's what the World Cup is all about, rolling into weeks like this.
"So we're two from two, building nicely, but this is a bit of a different week, a special week but it's something that we'll relish."
Farrell was able to get all eight of his replacements on the pitch by the 55th minute at Stade de la Beaujoire in an eight-try performance.
The positives were many.
"It was very pleasing, how we stayed on it mentally was great," he added.
"I mean a few things weren't going our way in the first half, even though we had good field position we couldn't quite convert that into points.
"We stayed on task and we still dominated field position, and once we got two scores up I thought we were flowing pretty nicely and put some points on the board which was pretty pleasing, and with all the changes we made pretty early it was very pleasing that continued throughout the game."
The only slight negative was a head injury to Finlay Bealham, but Farell wasn't overly concerned, adding: "Finlay is in good spirits so he'll go through the protocols tomorrow."
A happy Andy Farrell is satisfied with where Ireland are, but acknowledges they will need to go up a level when they face the Sprinboks next week #RWC2023 #RTErugby pic.twitter.com/9KfBLmc8o7
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) September 16, 2023
Sexton played down his own milestone moment and instead talked up the bigger challenges ahead.
"It's not about personal achievements for us, it's about just winning the next game," he said.
"We're delighted to get the result against a very good Tonga team. It's on to next week now. It's a masisve game against the reigning world champions. It's all geared towards that now."
He did reserve some special praise for the noisy irish support in the ground however, exclaiming: "Look around, it's insane. Every game we get a crowd like this when we go to World Cups.
"I don't know how many people in Ireland can afford to come over but they do it time after time and it means so much to us. I'm so happy we gave them something to cheer about."
It was a special, landmark night for Johnny Sexton, but he's focusing on bigger challenges to come #RWC2023 #RTErugby pic.twitter.com/sQfZiyeic3
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) September 16, 2023
