Having won two Six Nations titles with a conservative approach, Ireland are slowly moving towards a more expansive game, according to Bernard Jackman.
Joe Schmidt’s 2014 and 2015 champions struggled at the start of this year’s campaign, garnering only a solitary point from the opening three games.
However, in a nine-try demolition of Italy on Saturday they showed signs of a more open game plan and the former Ireland hooker says it’s a move in the right direction.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Rugby Show podcast, the Grenoble coach said: "We had this very low risk [game] in terms of off-loading and taking risks, playing with width and it won us two championships.
"And it’s hard then when you’re winning to say 'Let’s go away from that'.
"We didn’t get wins early on and maybe it’s the time now to look to evolve. I think that’s starting to happen. There were signs of it against England, against Italy for sure.
"I think it’s easier because we scored early in the game.
"The [Jamie] Heaslip try, just before half-time, it came from a short 22 drop-out, which historically, we’ve kicked long.
"So we took the risk, we retained the ball and then it was an offload from [Simon] Zebo which set the whole thing going and it was great support play, it was great to see us having a go there.
"Would we have done it if the score was 3-3? That's the question.
"To become a team that plays high-tempo you’ve got to take those risks at times when the game is much closer, against the better opposition.
"You can't say there’s been a massive change in philosophy yet, it's too early, but the signs were there that and I think the win will give them even more confidence to be a bit more ambitious."
