Iain Henderson felt an experimental Ireland side were able to gel "really well" as they got their Rugby World Cup warm-ups underway with a 33-17 win over Italy at the Aviva Stadium.
The Ulster second row captained Andy Farrell's side on the night in a performance which saw Ireland score five tries.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Henderson was satisfied with how the match panned out at this point of the build-up towards the World Cup.
"We've been trying to build on that through our pre-season block, we've had lots of various rugby sessions, high intensity, swapping in and out with different people," he said, adding that his own withdrawal was not injury related.
"It's good to see most of the guys out there with all of them who had to play together, some unfamiliar relationships gelling really well.
"I think it's exciting. It's good to see [Farrell] trying different people together and a lot of that was really possible."
One of those more unfamiliar on-field relationships was between Henderson and second row partner Joe McCarthy who was making his first Irish start.
Despite the Leinster player's comparative lack of international experience, Henderson said he had big hopes for McCarthy.
"Joe's a hugely exciting prospect for Ireland. I think he's an incredible player and a physical specimen and over the next number of games and next number of seasons, he's only going to get better and better for Ireland. I definitely think he's one to watch," he said.
Player of the Match for Ireland was Caelan Doris who scored two tries - one in each half - and lined up at seven.
"I've been burning the ear off Josh [van der Flier] and taking notes off him all week, so he's not a bad player to learn off," he said of moving to openside flanker.
"Over the last couple of years, I've been covering him anyway, so I'm fairly familiar with the role. I don't have too many minutes there but I've been doing my study over the last while, so happy enough with how it went."
