Sunday 9 February 2020 15:37, UK
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell hailed an improved performance from his "heroic" players following a statement Guinness Six Nations win over Wales.
The dominant hosts tamed the Grand Slam champions in Dublin and deservedly ran in four tries to secure a 24-14 bonus-point success and move top of the championship table.
Farrell's reign had begun in stuttering fashion with a narrow win over Scotland seven days ago and he was delighted by the emphatic nature of a second successive victory at the Aviva Stadium which keeps his side on course for a Grand Slam.
"It was an improved performance. The start was the complete reverse to last week," said Farrell.
"We were a little bit passive at the start of the game last week.
"I thought there were some heroic moments last week - especially in those moments we had to dig deep to win the game - but I thought we got that 100 per cent across the 80 minutes today.
"We managed that game superbly, especially in the second half. And to score a bonus-point try was really pleasing."
Englishman Farrell is adamant there is still more to come from his squad and believes they are in a "great place" ahead of their meeting with World Cup finalists England on February 23.
"Well, look, we'll enjoy tonight," he replied when asked about the trip to Twickenham.
"We have a couple of weeks together and there's a lot of learning that needs to be had.
"I think we're in a great place. We've had two wins. We said it wasn't the brilliant performance that we were all looking for last week but we had a great week's preparation and good, honest feedback from the boys.
"But we know the boys sat there in the changing room after a bonus-point win knowing there is still plenty more in us."
Wales coach Wayne Pivac admitted his side paid the price for an "unacceptable" number of handling errors.
"Going into the changing room at 12-7, we felt if we continue to work hard in defence but then got some territory ourselves and possession that we could turn the game around," said Pivac.
"Clearly we didn't start as well as we would have liked after half-time - inaccuracies in their 22 and we let them off the hook a couple of times.
"We've got to be very accurate in our passing game and I think today we put about eight balls down, turned the ball over eight times through handling, so that's unacceptable at this level of the game, something that we will need to go away and work on.
"And just generally too many turnovers when we were in good positions on the field, so you're not able to build that constant pressure, which Ireland were able to do when they scored a couple of their tries."
