Ireland must embrace their status as rugby's world number one, according to head coach Andy Farrell.
Less than a year out from the 2023 World Cup in France, Ireland are the best in the world - according to the rankings at least - courtesy of their famous Test series win against New Zealand over the summer.
It's a position they've only ever been in on one previous occasion, when they briefly leapfrogged the All Blacks at the top of the list just before the 2019 World Cup, a ranking that ultimately aged like milk.
The challenge for Ireland, as it has always been, is maintaining their place at the top of the tree, with the true test of their credentials still a year away.
But rather than play down the rankings, Farrell has called on his players to embrace it.
"I’ve been asked this a lot from the minute I got back from New Zealand," he said.
"What are we scared of? We want to be at our best. That’s why I said before [the New Zealand tour].
"We wanted New Zealand to be in a position where they never lose twice in a row, they had their injuries back, they never lose a home series."
Ireland begin their Bank of Ireland Nations Series against South Africa on Saturday 5 November, and Farrell says he wants the Springboks to be at their very best, so he can see how his side respond.
"We want that to see where we’re at, you know? That’s why I hope South Africa and ourselves are at our best.
"The result will take care of itself but at last we’ll keep finding out about ourselves. That’s what we want to do. That’s how we keep progressing. Not necessarily just on the scoreboard" he added.
And while Ireland come into the game having lost just two of their last 13 Tests, the head coach (below) insists they still have plenty of gears left to hit.
"Again, I keep on saying, we're nowhere near where we want to be. We focus on the process and what we’re trying to achieve and not waver from that.
"Things should look after themselves, but at the same time, I don’t mind being number one. We should embrace it a little bit, using it as a weapon for us like you know?
"There’s no saying whether we will be number one after the first game or the second game, but let’s embrace it, go after it, use it. I don’t want to be number two. What are we waiting for? Let’s go after it full throttle and see where we’re at."
The defending world champions had a mixed Rugby Championship campaign, finishing second behind New Zealand, with their defeat at home to an under-fire All Blacks side in Round 2 ultimately costing them.
However, the Springboks are a far different proposition to the team that last visited Dublin in 2017, on that occasion Ireland hammered a woeful South African side 38-3, shortly before the arrival of Rassie Erasmus (below) and Jacques Nienaber from Munster.
South Africa bring arguably the game's biggest and best forward pack with them, an area where Ireland have been vulnerable in recent seasons.
And while Farrell will be looking to find holes in the Erasmus and Nienaber playbook, he says his side have to stay true to their own style of play, and see how it matches up against the Boks.
"You have to be aware of what they are trying to achieve. We know they want to use their defence as an attacking weapon. We know that they are very, very good at getting out of their own half and they manage the middle third well. And 100%, a point of difference for them is the maul.
"So, territory and possession and discipline all come together to a perfect place that they keep on consistently getting to, to put you at the right end of the field to convert points. And they're generally very good at that. And plus, they’ve very good on the counter-attack and their high ball stuff is very good.
"If we just focus on them, we’re not pushing forward in the manner that we want to do as well. So, we know that our attack is going to be under pressure against them. But we’re excited to see where that is under pressure. We know at set-piece we’re going to be tested but we want to be tested.
"We want South Africa to be at their best, we want ourselves to be too. We constantly want to test ourselves, see where we’re constantly at. We hope that they come and they’re as strong as they possibly can be and put out a great performance as they can. That’s how we get to find out about ourselves."
On top of the Test with South Africa, Farrell and his coaching ticket will also be preparing an Ireland A side to take on an All Black XV at the RDS on the Friday night (4 November).
And he says the hectic schedule is crucial to see how his players can respond under pressure.
"It’s what I craved to happen because I want to keep finding out about ourselves, who can deal with the pressure and who can’t, and I’m talking about management as much as the player group.
"I like things to be a little bit different. I think over the professional era there are too many of us who have got stuck in our ways of ‘this is how we always do it, we play week to week and our training week is always like this, this and this...’.
"When you tweak things and people begin to panic that’s rubbish in my eyes, there’s no excuse.
"There’s always something happens within a World Cup, always something that’s going to try to rock the boat and these type of excuses are exactly that, excuses.
"I want us to be able to deal with things, the here and now and just push on in this manner. Trying to come up with these type of things will allow us to become better in that regard," he added.
Listen to live coverage of Ireland v South Africa (5 November), Fiji (12 November) and Australia (19 November) on RTÉ Radio 1, or follow our live blogs and reporting on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
