Ireland flanker Grace Moore is confident that Saturday's Women's Rugby World Cup warm-up win over Scotland in Cork was just the start of the latest chapter of this team's story.
Speaking to RTÉ Radio after the game, Moore felt a strong pre-season led to a strong opening performance.
"It's been a long pre-season, but we have worked so hard and after each block we have just come back even stronger and even better.
"This is just the start for us now", said the Saracens forward.
She added, "we need to play against opposition to see where we're at, to put our practices into games and the only way is up from here.
"We are going to keep learning, keep growing together and we have a big year of rugby ahead of us."
Ireland got off to a shaky start in the game, finding themselves 14-0 behind as the clock struck the 30th minute mark. However, Scott Bemand's squad dug themselves out of the hole with a real conviction.
"Rugby is not always a perfect game and yeah, the start wasn't great, but we came together and we stuck in it together", explained Moore.
"We pulled each other out of those deep places, we got out of our purple patches, and we grew as a team together throughout that game."
Ireland were defeated by the Scots in the Six Nations back in April, and were keen not to make it a repeat. Moore's back-row partner Brittany Hogan understood the value of grinding out the victory.
"Our games against Scotland are always a good hard hit out. A hard-earned win there today. It's nice to have our training come into fruition", explained the Ulster star.
"We were a little bit rusty in the first half hour, you can see that with how we were playing, but after that we upped the physicality and really got into the game."
The 26-year-old added, "nothing can prepare you for the intensity of a test match especially when two sides have the base of just hard work.
"The game was very hard in the first half, it always is in the first 20, but Scotland came out very hard and very fast. It was very intense".
It was the closing stages of the second half that swung the game for Ireland, with Sadbh McGrath and Méabh Deely (above) crossing the whitewash to reduce the deficit. Hogan felt this momentum change stemmed from a reversion to the basics.
"We wanted to make sure that we switched the momentum around {before half time}, and we did. We used our power; we used our lineout and started dominating some scrums. Things started going our way", she told RTÉ Sport.
"We were able to keep the ball in the 22, whereas before we were making a couple of mistakes. Things were just coming right, and we were starting to settle into the game, and we worked out for those metres".
Ireland will aim to keep the 'Green Wave' of support going when they host Canada in the Affidea Stadium in Belfast next Saturday. To get an impressive opening performance and a victory was crucial.
"It's so important to all of us [to get the win] especially because we had the loss in the Six Nations against Scotland. It was so important for us to make sure we go the win and that we earned the win", said Hogan.
"We had a full last 50-minute performance and ahead of the World Cup, and Canada next week, we needed that. Canada are second best in the world at the moment and they’re going to be a very hard outfit."
"We’re all guns blazing towards next weekend and hoping to keep our performances continuing on the upward trajectory."
There is no doubt that the sky is the limit for this squad, and despite injuries in key positions, the squad morale is soaring, and Grace Moore and co are ready for the challenge, "we are going to keep learning, keep growing together and we have a big year of rugby ahead of us."
