Ultan Dillane admits that Ireland made it tough on themselves at times as they overcame a stubborn Canada side 52-21 at the Aviva Stadium.
Coming on the back of last week’s stunning 40-29 victory over New Zealand in Chicago, the game with Canada was a potential banana skin.
A much changed Ireland side struggled to hit top gear in the first half and after racing into an early 14-0 lead, found themselves pegged back to 14-14, before leading 21-14 at half-time.
Joe Schmidt’s men did make their quality count in the second half as they pulled away from the visitors but Dillane, who bagged a try of his own, admitted that it wasn’t always easy.
Speaking to RTE Sport, Dillane said: “It was definitely a good result in the end but we wanted to build from last week and we made it a bit tough on ourselves in the first half but we got there in the second half.
"You have to have respect for other teams and Canada definitely had us going in the first half but thankfully we got there in the end.
"There were eight new caps today and I think every single one of them did well. Dan Leavy, James Tracey and Niyi Adelokun to name a few, so fair play to the boys.”
Thoughts now turn to next week’s return match with New Zealand in Dublin.
Dillane is aware that his side will face an All Blacks team are out for revenge, but is confident that Ireland will again put it up to the world’s number one side.
"We’re trying to build every week and we’ve a huge game next week so it’s back to the drawing board.
"There’s a lot of boys rested and and they’re gearing nicely towards that game so we’ll hit the ground running."
When asked whether his performance against Canada improved his chances of featuring against the All Blacks, Dillane was coy and said: "Maybe. There’s still a lot of work to do."
Man of the match Ultan Dillane gives his reaction to Ireland's 52-21 victory over Canada #rterugby https://t.co/Y49jDTBZyp
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 12, 2016
