If you wanted a gauge of the squad mood at Carton House, Tadhg Furlong’s demeanour was a clear indication the men in green are hurting. And anxious to put things right on Saturday.
Normally a bubbly character and generous with his insight, the prop forward cut a more sombre figure at the team camp.
The Wexford man dealt with every question fired his way in a courteous manner, but the answers were short and delivered in slow, measured cadences.
He mentioned accuracy as something that was missing at times on Saturday
"Look, losing games is never nice but it doesn't mean you throw it all away either and start changing things massively," he told RTÉ Sport. "If we get back to the accuracy that we can bring, we're confident we can bring a performance as well.
"You don't carry hurt with you into this weekend and try to do something you usually wouldn't do or whatever. We just go back to what we do well."
The squad has dusted itself down in the aftermath and the video analysis was difficult, but essential viewing if lessons are to be learned.
"I think there were a few truths but we're not trying to slate players or anything like that," he said.
While the doom and gloom is to be expected after hopes of a second successive Grand Slam went up in smoke, the championship is very much alive.
A win in Scotland and the holders are very much back in the hunt, and according to Furlong, there were positives to be taken from defeat.
"I thought the lineout went quite well," he said. "We probably didn't get the opportunities to go to the maul as much as we would have liked.
"I thought the lads worked hard. We worked hard for each other. There was good work rate. We created opportunities and we didn't necessarily take them."
Ireland’s last visit to Murrayfield ended in defeat and Gregor Townsend’s side are looking to back up their weekend win over Italy as Scottish rugby goers from strength to strength.
With Finn Russell pulling the strings at 10, Blair Kinghorn in blistering form on the wing and Stuart Hogg one of the most potent full-backs in the business, Furlong expects a different type of challenge this weekend.
"Scotland tend to play with that small bit more width than England would"
"They play with a lot of width, with a lot of depth," he says. "That's not to say England don't do that either. You know, they have ball players all around the game, they have really good strike runners.
"I suppose they tend to play with that small bit more width than England would."
Follow Scotland v Ireland (2.15pm) via our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and the News Now app, or listen to live national radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport.
