Brian O'Driscoll reckons Ireland have improved from a D to a B grade in a year - but must get to A grade standard to make history at the World Cup.
Despite the last game against France ending in defeat, O'Driscoll was hugely encouraged by what he saw from Ireland in terms of staying in the fight in very difficult circumstances.
The Ireland great, who scored a hat-trick in Paris himself 22 years ago to plant himself on a global stage, has been waiting for the current crop in green to find a way to "counter-punch" against the bigger teams.
"It's been our Achilles heel," said O'Driscoll. "We can’t grow bigger humans than we already have.
"We’re going to have to think our way around beating opposition like that, try not to get into arm-wrestles and find a way to stay in the game, which is exactly what we did.
"It was kind of an inspiring performance.
"It gave me huge confidence that we’re actually able to deal with the power game and counter-punch, and not get embroiled in trying to take them on at their own games.
"It’s about staying in the fight - and lots of times we fell foul of that in France, where we were beaten after 15 or 20 minutes.
"Whereas through the brilliance of Mack Hansen, he gave us a lifeline - that game had the potential to slip away from us.
"That’s what you need to do against the best teams. By the way, France are one of the best teams in the world so for us to stay with them in their own backyard, playing with loads of confidence, we found a way to do that.
“This was a very different game. It also feels as though this Ireland team has real bottle.
"I’m not saying the other teams didn’t but this feels as though they’ve a real self-belief which inspires a bit of confidence in the rest of us.
"So that even when it goes badly that it’s not going to get catastrophic, that they’ll find a way and they’ve proven it pretty consistently against some of the better nations.
“To have done it against New Zealand in the last four or five games, to do it consistently against France over the last decade...England has been a bit of a bogey team but at the moment they’re not fearful of them.
"It does feel as though they’re finding an alternative to play against the big power game."
Andy Farrell is almost two and a half years into his tenure as Ireland boss and O'Driscoll is pleased with the progress made in the past 12 months - with nine victories and one defeat - after a slow start to his reign.
But he insists Ireland can't rest on their laurels and must continue to improve.
“As soon as you start believing your own press you’re in trouble," cautioned the Dubliner.
"But I do feel they’ve discovered how to really threaten the most organised of defences, which is the most exciting aspect.
“It has come on leaps and bounds within a year. From the England game to now, from pre-England to now, is a four out of 10 to a 7.5 out of 10.
"That’s how much of a jump it has been and that’s why we’re so excited. It’s the consistency of game-plan as well.
“A year ago the players were telling us, ‘it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming’ and it was hard to see it. Eventually it has landed - we’re getting giddy about it because it looks really good.
“They haven’t been perfect in the first two games. They created a lot of chances - if they’d taken other options they’d have had Wales in major trouble.
"So that’s where coaches will be picking holes in the performances to say, ‘we’re good but we can be much better’.
“That’s why you’re hearing it from the players, as a team and a group and I agree they've some way to go to get to that really high-end, nine out of 10 performance they’re going to need going into a World Cup.”
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