As margins go in the Six Nations Championship, Italy in Rome in the opening match is sometimes as good as it gets for the hosts. Full of optimism and hope in their first game and with a clean sheet and the opportunity to get their championship off to a winning start, Italy's strength is the fresh storm blowing.
Although many of the Italian faces are familiar, the Irish pack understands what's ahead. But second row Devin Toner, now senior enough not to be plagued by questions about his height and piano playing, has both the experience of the satisfying November trilogy and the mind to know that wins over Australia and South Africa was the beginning, not the end of the journey
“We have to go in as good as we can be,” says Toner. “We don’t want to be feeling our way into things around game three, game four. We want to hit the ground running. We want to kick on from November. We don’t want to be struggling in game one going into game two, three. We really want to look at this game to get things nailed down first.”
“Yeah, as you say they are at their best at the start of the tournament and they are at their best at home as well,” he adds. “We are under no illusions. I think it is going to be a lot tougher of a game than people think it will be. They’ve got a vast amount of experience and they will be very, very passionate.
"But I think we have a lot of confidence in the players around us. From the previous results - obviously, last Six Nations and November - we have confidence in ourselves that we can pull it out of the bag. And we can rely on all the players around us. So there is a confidence in the team."
Toner makes the distinction between going to Rome confident and arriving there with the swagger of being the higher ranked team, the one many observers believe is capable of successfully defending their crown.
In past years the tag favourite was a trigger word for the team to under perform. But things have changed, particularly under the forensically minded Joe Schmidt. It's no surprise to players or fans that Ireland are fully expected to win.
“Yeah it’s not surprising but we’ll let people talk, let them say what they want,” says Toner cautiously. “I think lads’ heads are screwed on a little more… I can’t say that much because I wasn’t really involved back then. But I think lads don’t take anything for granted these days.
“We know how Joe feels. We had a little camp over Christmas and we were 100 per cent focused on the Six Nations, the next game.
“We were looking at some of the stuff we were going to impose on them. It was just last week and this week when we really had some vision on them and looking at how to counteract their attack and stuff.”
At this point in the week, there’s a nervousness about the first dive into the pool but there are also pointers to how things may pan out at the weekend, when players intuitively know that the drills are working well or that everyone is comfortable in their role.
Toner and Paul O'Connell will likely start with Schmidt having to decide if the excellent Iain Henderson has enough in his legs after the game against England Saxons to cover the bench. He's in the squad as a lock but can usefully play backrow.
“You can tell in training,” says Toner about the mood in the camp. “You know if everyone has their detail nailed on, if everyone has their knowledge right, if everyone knows the plays, line-outs. Then you get a bit of confidence going into the game. You can tell lads are clicking.
“It is a different ball game once the game’s kicked off. One of the things you can’t control is the opposition, so once the game kicks off, that’s when we’ll really know.”
