Why can't we play like that every week?
Expectations were fairly low heading into this afternoon's game against England, but they certainly blew them out of the water with that performance.
It was an incredible 80 minutes for Ireland, and were it not for Bundee Aki's red card, the scoreline would have been a lot more flattering.
It certainly gives the team a template to move forward with in the Andy Farrell era, one that they will look to build on over the remainder of 2021.
The team played to their strengths up front, but also added in some dynamism and inventiveness in attack. Couple that with the ferociousness in defence and it was a brilliant overall display.
Speaking after the game, Johnny Sexton was certainly pleased with the effort from Ireland.
No one believed me (that this performance was coming), did they? It was brilliant.
We felt we weren't far away all throughout the championship, something just clicked in some things, there's still a lot of stuff we can improve on and get better.
That was the performance we wanted against a top quality side, one of the best sides in the word who we have massive respect for, their players, their coaches, everyone.
That is the standard we have set now and hopefully we can keep backing it up now and become more consistent. I said to the boys last night that the only worries we should have is backing up today.
We put in a performance that will make us think twice about some of the standards we have set in that game.
One incident involving Sexton come under scrutiny in the aftermath of the game.
England's Ellis Genge appeared to drive his elbow into Johnny Sexton's face in the closing stages, and while the referee did not review it at the time, Genge will surely face some retrospective action after the incident.
Ellis Genge driving his elbow into Johnny Sexton's face. #IREvsENG pic.twitter.com/Lko25a98o5
— Damian Cullen (@Damian_Cullen) March 20, 2021
Not great, but it shouldn't take the attention away from this Ireland performance.
A good day for Irish rugby.
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