Rory Best is already looking towards this summer's three-Test series in South Africa where the Ulster hooker believes Ireland are capable of making history.
Ireland completed their Six Nations campaign with a 35-25 victory over Scotland in Dublin on Saturday, which left them with five points from as many games, and third in the Six Nations table.
The Irish have never won a Test match on South African soil and Best could even travel there as skipper, in the wake of Paul O'Connell's retirement, and he said: "There's obviously a fair bit of rugby to play between now and then hopefully back at our provinces.
"We'll sign out on Sunday and look forward to knocking lumps out of each other for two months. We've now won two games, and we can go to South Africa and try to create history by winning Test matches over there.
"It's been really enjoyable to lead Ireland for this Six Nations, and I suppose I'll just wait and see if the old body holds up. It's been a massive honour to captain Ireland.
"Here you're surrounded by leaders. Even someone like CJ Stander, who made his debut at the start of the Six Nations, captains Munster.
"It's not left to one person, everyone's contributing and we're always trying to be better."
As for Joe Schmidt, the Ireland coach, he will be hoping Iain Henderson and Peter O'Mahony are fit for their trip to South Africa.
"It is exciting to have those guys coming back because they'll hopefully be looking over their shoulders," Schmidt said.
"Pete (O'Mahony) was huge for us in the last two Six Nations and his performance in the first 60 minutes against France was immense before he got injured.
"CJ Stander has come in and got better with every game. I really think Donnacha Ryan has grown in the last couple of games, Ultan Dillane obviously we mentioned. Iain Henderson is going to look at the six or the lock position and say, 'I better roll my sleeves up and get working'.
"Transition is permanent, change is permanent. You're always going to be making changes.
"You're always looking for pieces you think will fit the overall jigsaw but we're going to get a few more pieces back."
As for Saturday's match, Scotland boss Vern Cotter was left to rue the yellow cards he felt cost his side the chance of three successive championship victories for the first time in 20 years.
"It wasn't a good start, we acknowledge that," Cotter said. "They held the ball well and we couldn't get our hands back on it.
"Once we held the ball we managed to get them under pressure. But playing 20 minutes with only 14 on the field is tough.
"They still showed character and spirit, and scored some good tries. We accept criticism because it helps us move forward so we'll analyse it and have a good look.
"We're driven to improve. That's not just a story we're telling, that's something that is within the group and will continue to thrive. So, if we take a half-step backwards to shift us forward we'll take it."