Ireland boss Andy Farrell should stick with a winning formula for Sunday's Guinness Six Nations clash with Italy, according to Jerry Flannery.
The defending champions opened their campaign with a statement 38-17 victory in Marseille over France, who played for just short of an hour with 14 men after Paul Willemse’s second yellow card.
The head coach handed first Six Nations starts to out-half Jack Crowley, wing Calvin Nash and lock Joe McCarthy, who was named man of the match.
Regular centre Garry Ringrose was ruled out of the France tie with a shoulder injury last week, while Farrell reported only"bangs and bruises" in the immediate aftermath of the game.
With a nine-day turnaround until the visit of the Azzurri, Farrell (above) has plenty of time to ponder his best starting XV.
"I would go with continuity," 2009 Grand Slam winner Flannery, now a coach with Harlequins, told RTÉ Sport.
"Andy Farrell is much further along the line [as a coach] than I've ever been.
"He may choose to mix things up a little bit but I think getting a bit of continuity in something where you are only going to have five games to win it is important.
"I would roll out the same side."
Ex-Ulster and Ireland forward Stephen Ferris agreed.
"As a former player, being in that situation, [when] you play well you never want to have that knock on your door to say we are resting you this week," said former back row Ferris.
"You want to back up a good performance. Especially the young lads, Calvin Nash and Joe McCarthy, they cannot wait to get back out there, at home at the Aviva and represent their country.
"I'd like to see the same team rolled out."
Meanwhile, hooker Dan Sheehan, who scored his sixth international try on his 22nd cap to secure the bonus point for Ireland, was full of praise for his Leinster team-mate McCarthy, who made nine carries for 21 metres, beat three defenders, racked up seven tackles, and took two lineout throws over a 67 minutes shift on his sixth cap.
"He’s amazing," said Sheehan of the 22-year-old.
"Just energy – young, physical, excited about every physical point of the game. He’s able to rip teams apart on his own, it seems. Just need to hold him back is the main problem.
"No, it’s great to see someone like him, who probably didn’t have the career laid out in front of him like a lot of other lads did.
"He was late into schools.
"He was probably always an underdog, so to be able to bounce onto the scene like he has is incredible and he’s a huge asset for us and for Leinster."
Follow a live blog on Ireland v Italy in the Six Nations on Sunday from 2pm on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch England v Wales in the Under-20 Six Nations on Friday from 7.05pm on RTÉ Player
Watch England v Wales in the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday from 4.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
