The Triple Crown holders began the RBS 6 Nations with arguably the most talented squad in Irish rugby history but O'Driscoll realises that will count for little without a championship title to show for it.

We don't want to be nearly men - we want something tangible as evidence of our improvement,'' said the Leinster skipper, who has led Ireland to successive second-place finishes in the last two tournaments.

We must improve on winning four out of five games so that in the future we can look back and say we won the championship.

I don't think we've quite reached our potential yet but we have been building for a number of years.

We have a large number of caps in the side and we must capitalise on using that experience.

Some of the guys are getting to the end of their careers so we have to make hay while the sun shines.

Ireland remain on course for only their nation's second clean sweep but France and Wales are expected to provide their toughest assignments yet.

They entered the championship as favourites but Wales now appear to have taken on that mantle with a potential Grand Slam decider between the two nations looming in Cardiff on March 19.