After the disappointment of a home defeat against Wales in their Six Nations opener plus the anticlimax of their postponed game in France, the Aviva Stadium demanded a performance and Ferris and co. provided it.

Keith Earls, Tom Court and Andrew Trimble also crossed for the home side as the Azzurri – who scored a try of their own through Sergio Parisse – were ultimately put to the sword.

And Ferris said: “It was a good team performance, we played a lot of rugby in our own half in the first half and we just seemed to outwork them in the second half and we knew the scores would come.

“We talked about it all week that in the World Cup it took us 45 or 50 minutes to break them down, they are a physical team and a big pack so it was great to get a victory in the end. It was well needed.

“Andrew (Trimble) has been scoring tries for fun with Ulster so it was good to see him on the scoresheet and rounding it off nicely.

“We talked about putting in a big performance and yes the tries came in the end but the result was the main thing and we worked hard all week.

“I thought out skill level was fantastic out there and I thought we brought ourselves to another level and we just need to keep it going.

“We have got another three tough games ahead of us but hopefully this is just the start of it.”