Two games and two defeats into a new Six Nations era under Scott Bemand, Ireland have plenty of work-ons.
A respectable loss to France and a game against Italy in which they had more than enough possession and chances to register a first championship win in two years have sown some seeds of hope but frustration at the amount of basic errors that cost them dearly will be the overwhelming emotion in camp.
The 27-21 defeat wasn't pretty.
Ireland missed 16 tackles to Italy's 36, conceded two fewer penalties, broke the line more than twice as many times as their opponents and had much the better possession (56%) and territory (69%), yet they still couldn't close the deal, thanks largely to an incredible 28 handling errors.
In fact, had their late drive yielded a converted try it would have been unfair on the visitors, who deserved their win.
However, in Aoife Wafer, Ireland have a star in the making.
The Leinster back row was named at openside but packed down at the back of Ireland's attacking scrums.
She made 17 carries, beat four defenders, making over 81 metres with ball in hand; there were two linebreaks and two offloads among all that.
Result to one side for a moment, the Wexford native (below) is enjoying getting her hands on the ball.
"It's always a nice one when you get to run a few metres and bash a few backs off the back of a scrum," Wafer, who won her fourth cap, told reporters after the match,
On the decision to go to 8 at the set-piece, she said: "It was Scott's call.
"We’re very honest with ourselves as a team and we know what our super-strengths are.
"So we know that Brit [Brittany Hogan] is an absolute menace when it comes to breakdown work. She’s class on the flank and when we get that ruck ball she’s in there like lightning. She's rapid.
"I’ve really enjoyed going into attacking 8. It’s something that I’ve kind of added to my game recently and I suppose the first time I would have tried it is against Clovers and Wolfhounds when I got a little break.
"It’s pretty cool that we can just play to our super-strengths and just be really honest with each other and say, 'yeah you’re better at this, you go there, you’re better than me at this.'"
While the scoreline did result in a first match point since 2022, Wafer, a try-scorer in the loss to France, felt it was a game they could have taken much more from.
"It’s a bitter one, isn’t it?," added the 21-year-old as Ireland face into a down week before Wales come to Cork.
"I think we prepped really well all week and it's just some small tweaks that we have to make and we really have to up our game.
"We’ve got to go back now and we’ve got to review our game and we’ve to own our mistakes and just fix them.
"There’ll be some tough talks over the next few days but that’s just high performance, isn’t it, and that’s where this group is, we’re wanting to take those hard talks and we’re wanting to get better. We’re ready to grow."
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