Bundee Aki believes there's plenty more to come and feels he’s in the right place to replicate his 2023 form.
Yesterday named the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland men’s player of the year, the Connacht centre has a contract with the IRFU that will take him up to the end of the 2024/25 season.
The New Zealand native, who turns 34 in April, was Ireland’s outstanding player last year, with his dynamic running and hard-carrying yielding eight tries in 14 Tests, and a host of player of the match awards.
His performances, including a man of the match showing in Ireland's World Cup pool victory over champions South Africa, were also recognised by World Rugby when he was named in last year’s dream team.
"I certainly believe that there’s a lot more that I can definitely offer and keep going after things, and achieve goals here and there," said Aki.
"I want to keep giving my best and serve the time until I know it’s my time to finish, and then I’ll put the boots up.
"But at the moment, I’m feeling good, I’m feeling fresh and looking to achieve more."
Ireland, ranked number one in the world going into the tournament, once again lost out in the quarter-final, losing 28-24 to New Zealand.
"Obviously you build towards a World Cup for four years and the amount of work you put in for that competition is huge, and I think as a group we were devastated by the result because of the ambition we had as a group," added the former Chiefs man, who has 52 Ireland caps and one Lions Test appearance to his name.
"We grew as a group and as a team we want to inspire a nation, and the support of the fans in all those five games was incredible.
"When you work so hard for two or three years to get to that stage for the World Cup you obviously feel sad when you don’t achieve what you set out to achieve.
"For myself, I felt disappointed for the long-serving players like Johnny [Sexton] and Earlsy [Keith Earls], and I asked myself what more could I have done.
"But it could easily have been the bounce of a ball. That’s just sport. Sport is cruel, but I certainly think the boys gave a bit of joy to a lot of supporters and a lot of kids.
"That was the feedback we got and as a sportsperson you want that, to see kids pick up a rugby ball and enjoy the sport.
"But you can’t get away from the fact that we didn’t achieve what we wanted to achieve. We wanted to get to that goal as a group and we certainly believed that we could have got there."
On the home front, Aki is likely to feature as Connacht try to resurrect their Investec Champions Cup hopes away to Lyon on Saturday.
Pete Wilkins side have lost twice in Pool 1 so far.
"We had a tough old first block of the season with Connacht but it was nice to be able to grind out a good win against Munster," said Aki, who joined Connacht in 2014.
"We’re looking to use that momentum against Lyon. It’s going to be tough, but it’s Champions Cup, it’s the best comp in the world and every game is tough.
"So we’ve got to go there and give it everything we have and come back home to face Bristol six days later and then straight into the Six Nations."
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