They came up short in the bid for victory over France which would have turned the RBS 6 Nations Championship into a level three-horse race following Irelands shock 19-13 victory over world champions England at Twickenham, but that took nothing away from the achievement of the Emerald Isle heroes.

Ireland have just Italy and Scotland to play and Easterby is aware it is vital they approach both games with the fervent commitment and passion which destroyed Englands 22-match winning run at Twickenham.

Its huge, was his reaction to a famous Irish victory. Their record shows that this is a tough place to come and play but we managed to get stuck into them and it paid off.

Now we have shown that we can play and beat the best we need consistency. A couple of weeks ago we were poor in France and if we had played the same there as we did here then maybe we would have won that game as well.

He insists there will be no complacency when Italy visit Lansdowne Road on Saturday week.

Not at all, he added. Italy proved they can beat Scotland and they are a very physical side. They will be coming to Lansdowne with a lot of confidence but if we can produce the same sort of performance in a couple of weeks time then hopefully we will be good enough to win.

It is a danger that we get complacent and we cant afford to. We have to make sure we win the game every time.