Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said he never doubted that his players would bounce back from the World Cup heartache in the manner they have done.
The team suffered an agonising 28-24 loss to New Zealand in the quarter-finals last October but have won three from three in the Guinness Six Nations.
That run sets up a possible championship-winning clash against England tomorrow at Twickenham, where a bonus-point victory would give Farrell's heavy favourites an unassailable lead in the table with one round to go.
After returning to club duty in November, many of the players spoke about the nature of the disappointment they suffered and how it would take them a long time to get over it.
Farrell (above) himself insisted that he had completely moved on.
"I’m over it," he told RTÉ Sport at the tournament launch in January.
And speaking to reporters yesterday before the panel flew to London, Farrell says it became clear at the team’s first meeting after the World Cup that they would be able to put it behind them.
"Well obviously you speak to individuals and you understand where people are at and everyone’s at different stages," he explained.
"But it’s up to us to make sure that we be honest with each other and get to a point where we all agree we’re all going to move on together.
"That was very evident that was going to be the case after the first meeting, after the first training session, that we’re just hungry to be the best version of ourselves and that’s always been the mantra really, so why should it change?"
Ireland opened their campaign with one of the best performances under Farrell’s watch – a 38-17 five-try rout of France in Marseille but struggled for periods in subsequent victories over Italy and Wales.
He has challenged his team – for which full-back Hugo Keenan is the only change – to produce a more-rounded performance against Steve Borthwick’s side, who sit third in the table on eight points after wins over Italy and Wales and a defeat in Scotland.
"An 80-minute performance and being relentless in how we're going to go after the best version of ourselves," he said when asked what areas he wanted to see improvements in.
"I don't know whether we can achieve that or not. We're striving to do that.
"As always, the opposition have a big enough say in that so maybe I'm talking out of turn really. But that's what we're always striving for."
He added: "When people say 'you've got to be more direct and you've got to hit the front door more and let's do that for the first 20 minutes and let's be direct and let's see if we can win collisions that way’, well then you're taking away everyone's decision making within that type of game.
"It's just making the right decisions at the right time and being able to be calm enough to see that and feel that and do that.
"Directness isn't just about punching holes because if we do that into a white wall, we'll be going backwards.
"It's about motion and people being in motion and numbers at the line and picking the right options on the back of that that's going to get us going forward."
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch England v Ireland in the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday from 4pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch Wales v France on Sunday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
