Ireland captain Peter O'Mahony hailed the contribution of Andy Farrell's crop of youngsters in their opening Guinness Six Nations victory over France on Friday night.
The hosts were beaten 38-17 in Marseille, with Joe McCarthy putting in a Player of the Match performance, Jack Crowley kicking six out of seven off the tee and Calvin Nash scoring a try on his Six Nations debut.
First-half tries from Jamison Gibson-Park and Tadgh Beirne helped Ireland into a 17-10 lead at the break against a French side who had been reduced to 14 men following the sending off of Paul Willemse.
Nash's 45th-minute try was followed up scores from Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher as Ireland secured a bonus point victory to kick off their championship defence in style.
"It's hard to sum up, it was a serious Test match," O'Mahony told ITV after his first outing as permanent Ireland captain.
"I’m very proud of the lads – our control of the game, cool under certain decisions, composed. It got a bit frantic in the last ten minutes, down to 14 with my yellow card, but we stayed with the plan all the time. We didn’t get carried away with positive or negative moments. I thought it was a good start, a good performance.
"I think a big chunk of [the performance] was the young fellas. Guys like Calvin Nash, Jack [Crowley], big Joe [McCarthy], some big, big performances from guys getting an opportunity. It’s hard to pick a few guys out but I thought it was a good start.
"I thought we let a couple of opportunities go. I thought there was a couple of silly penalties on our part when we just needed to be a bit more disciplined but I think this whole game is about taking your opportunities. Against sides as good as France are they don’t come around very often. More often than not tonight I thought we took those opportunities quite well.
"We’re not going to be getting carried away here. We’ve certainly gained a bit of momentum. We’ll go and analyse it and we’ll want to get better. That’s what we want to do, and kick on."
Ireland coach Andy Farrell was equally impressed with his charges but acknowledged that the clash was tougher than it needed to be at times, with France offered opportunities to come back into the game.
"I said at half-time that if we can keep playing our game it will be a win that will be remembered for a long time," Farrell told Virgin Media.
"The pleasing thing is that we kept on playing and kept on taking our game to them. We did so until the final whistle and we are very pleased.
"The game takes its own course. It was great to score a few tries and also be calm and comfortable on the ball. In the first 20 minutes I thought we played some nice rugby. With a man down I thought the French would be tiring, but our intent to keep on playing against 14 men was key. I thought we did that well.
"I was about keeping calm and making sure that we don't get ahead of ourselves. It wasn't perfect. Ten minutes before half time, our discipline lacked a little bit and allowed France back into the game. As I said it's about staying calm and rolling with the punches and then to get back to the type of game we want to play."
The weekend's work is now done for Farrell and his team, who can now watch and see how Italy v England and Wales v Scotland unfold on Saturday.
Ireland's opening home outing of the 2024 championship takes place on Sunday 11 February, when Italy visit the Aviva Stadium.
Watch Wales v Scotland in the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday from 4pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
