Tadhg Beirne says Ireland are coursing with "massive belief" after their Grand Slam got off to a spectacular start with a 21-point demolition of France in Marseille.
The record win was only Ireland's fourth away to France in 50 years, though the third since 2014, and leaves Andy Farrell's side in a strong position to collect back-to-back titles.
Munster lock Beirne, who breezed through a gap in the French defence for the second of five tries, told reporters the performance was a "special feeling".
"You can't really expect to beat France by a score like that," he said.
"You always think it’s going to be a tight game and maybe if there wasn’t a red card it might have been a bit tighter but who knows?
"We also knew that with our ability and the way we play that we were going to be able to take it to this French team.
"Within this group, there’s a massive belief. It’s such an enjoyable group to be with and such an enjoyable group to play with; the way we play we all love it."
Beirne (below) stressed the calmness in the team throughout as the plan laid out beforehand played out on the field.
The Kildare man told RTÉ Sport "Faz said to us afterwards that it was a record win over France. It probably epitomises this group in terms of everything we have been achieving over the last few years and what we do want to go on to achieve.
"We said at half-time we could go after them in the second half and we felt like we did that.
"It felt like we were in control of the game and the opportunities were going to keep coming for us. When we did get into our shape and the way we wanted to play, they were struggling to deal with us defensively.
"It didn't feel like we were under too much pressure defensively. That wasn't for the whole game, they had a few line-breaks in the second half, in fairness to them.
"It just felt like our plan going into the game was working. And there was a calmness there within the group and everyone felt the same."
As for his own try, which left the scoreline at 17-3 on the half-hour mark, Beirne was quick to credit Ireland's new first-choice out-half for his role in the score.
"I was saying to Lowey [James Lowe] the other day that I must have lost a bit of gas, I haven't made a line-break in a long, long time! Nice to actually get over today.
"It was a great ball by Jack. I'm pretty sure the lads were saying it was a no-look pass, he looked out the back and sold it. Made it an easier run-in for me then."
With additional reporting: PA
