Jared Payne hopes to build further on his fledgling Ireland partnership with Robbie Henshaw against England at the Aviva Stadium in just under two weeks’ time.
Saturday’s 18-11 win over France was only the 29-year-old’s third international after lining in out in the opening Six Nations victory over Italy and the Autumn international win over South Africa.
The Ulster player has struck up an impressive centre coupling with Henshaw, though he believes himself and the Connacht player have far bigger tests ahead.
“It’s early days we’ve been okay so far but we haven’t really been tested heaps,” Henshaw told RTÉ Sport. “We’re improving each week which is looking pretty good and we can continue to improve.
“There’s going to be times we make mistakes, so far we’ve been alright, but when we do make mistakes we’ve just go make sure we learn from them and correct them and move forward.”
Attention has quickly turned to the next game, with Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt already presenting video analysis on Stuart Lancaster’s charges.
“Although I’m a bit older, it’s only my third international game and I’m happy enough with my game" - Jared Payne
“We’ve had a little look at them,” added Payne. “You don’t want to sit on the result with the French. You review that and put it to bed, and then start to preview England.
“So we’ve used our time wisely to have a look at them and get a picture of what they do.”
Payne, who joined Ulster from Auckland Blues in 2011, admits to still feeling a novice at international level but is growing more confident with each Ireland gathering.
“For me it’s early days,” he said. “Although I’m a bit older, it’s only my third international game and I’m happy enough with my game.
“I know there’s a few areas to improve but slowly week by week I’m feeling more comfortable within the team so hopefully when I feel more comfortable, I can express myself a bit more and get myself in better positions.”
England and Ireland will square up at the Aviva Stadium on 1 March as the only sides with 100% records after two games in the Six Nations campaign.
Payne believes Ireland will have to improve on the performances in the victories in Rome and Dublin to stand a chance of beating England, in what is already being touted as a championship decider.
“We probably didn’t take our chances in attack as much as we’d like in the matches so far. We missed a few opportunities where we created good opportunities and didn’t finish them off; particularly there was one with Johnny Sexton and myself against France.
“Though, I think at the same time our defence were reasonably good. There were a few occasions where we were caught short and France scored that try. We just need to work a bit harder.”
“We’ve created a few things and haven’t quite finished them off.
“We’ve got to be a bit more accurate and a bit tougher on ourselves. If we do that then hopefully we might put a few more teams away.”
