The start of each new Six Nations campaign brings with it an incredible amount of excitement, but from an Irish perspective, the disappointment of the recent World Cup campaign still lingers over this team.
The tournament in France started brilliantly for Andy Farrell's side, with the victory over South Africa in the pool stage viewed at the time as the potential start of something special. Unfortunately, they would ultimately come up short against a dogged New Zealand team at the quarter-final stage.
Ireland's failure to once again get beyond the last eight in the tournament has led to some familiar debates. Some questioned their bottle as a result of the loss, and while that was unfair, there was an incredible sense of disappointment about coming up short on that stage yet again.
However, while fans may still be wallowing in that misery, the players are viewing things rather differently.
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Peter O'Mahony gave amazing response when asked about World Cup heartbreak
Peter O'Mahony was appointed as the new Ireland captain last week, with the Munster man seeming like an obvious choice for the role. He brings an incredible amount of experience and passion both on and off the pitch, something that will stand to him.
Speaking at the launch of this year's Six Nations, he showed just why he is such a good fit as Johnny Sexton's replacement. When asked about how the team would react to the disappointment of their World Cup exit, he gave an answer that summed up why he is perfect man to lead this team moving forward.
Look, I think Andy [Farrell] spoke that we're going to review (the World Cup quarter-final loss), of course we're going to review it.
You have a decision to make about whether you want that ending of the World Cup... There are loads of us that have gone through tough parts of our careers and tough defeats. They're the ones that make the rest of it better, do you know what I mean?
They're the ones that you remember the most, certainly. When you have good days, they're the ones that stood to you, those experiences. All the good that we did last year, that's not gone. Far from it.
You've got a decision to make. Do you want that game to make you better, or do you want to leave it hang over you?
Of course we're going to grab it and be better for it, and get ahead of the game where you have to be competing for championships. That's exactly what we want to do.
Ireland will need to quickly bounce back from their World Cup disappointment if they want to retain their Six Nations title in 2024, with the team facing into a difficult trip to France to open the championship at the start of next month.
Their performance in that game could go a long way towards telling us how damaging that defeat against New Zealand really was. If the rest of squad take Peter O'Mahony's advice, they will use it as fuel for the challenges ahead.
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