Rob Kearney admits he can feel Jordan Larmour breathing down his neck as Ireland prepare for a new Six Nations campaign still haunted by the mistakes of twelve months ago.
Joe Schmidt's men paid a heavy price for a dreadful start at Murrayfield, falling to an opening-day 27-22 defeat to Scotland that immediately crushed any Grand Slam dreams and left them chasing their tails from the off.
They recovered to eventually finish second behind England, but Kearney is eyeing glory this time round.
And the meteoric rise of his Leinster team-mate Larmour has, the Louthman says, sharpened his focus even more.
"He's a superb talent," fullback Kearney told RTÉ Sport's Michael Corcoran.
"I've been as impressed as everyone has by some of the things he's done over the last few months.
"He is a really talented individual and he's a good guy as well. He works hard, keeps his head down, he's all for the team.
"When you've got guys like that it builds competition. It's good for me as well to have people breathing down my neck and some other players vying for that jersey too."
Ireland head to Paris on Saturday desperate to start with a bang.
Les Bleus are now under the guidance of Jacques Brunel, who replaced Guy Noves in December and has openly declared his desire to win this tournament.
Stade de France has rarely been a happy hunting ground for Ireland teams over the years, but Kearney believes they have the tools to plunder victory at a noisy, partisan arena.
"I think it's 83-odd thousand and the French like to sing. When their anthem goes, there's a lot of people giving it holly. But that's what we want as players. We like the big venues. It's a great place to be.
"We feel we have the squad of players, we've got the game plan, we're in a good position. Provided we get off to a good start, we feel we'll be right in the hunt.
"There's a huge amount of excitement from all the players. There's an element of nerves too. You're going a little bit into the unknown, the stakes are higher.
"Last year we learned the hard way that if you get off to a bad start you're chasing your tail a little bit throughout the tournament. A massive focus for us this year is the first 20, 30 minutes of the game. That's all we're thinking about.
"Away in Paris, it's as tough as it gets. We need to make sure we're right there on the B of the bang."
Listen to commentary on France v Ireland (4.45pm kick-off) from Michael Corcoran and Donal Lenihan on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport, or follow our live blog on RTÉ Sport Online
