CIAN Healy believes that Ireland can be "one of the dominant forces in world rugby” following their Six Nations victory in Paris.
Ireland claimed a long-awaited victory in France to lift the trophy, and the Leinster prop admits that the arrival of Joe Schmidt last year will prevent the team from repeating history and declining in performance after a Grand Slam win.
The Ireland coach has managed to transform a team that finished fifth in 2013 into a team that are hoping to defend their title in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, which takes place on English soil.
“You wouldn’t be playing if you didn’t believe you could go forward,” Healy said.
“It’s a strong, focused team and there are a lot of players hanging in there that are ready to go – to start moving forward, really putting Ireland as one of the dominant forces in world rugby.
“Of course we can get stronger. We’ve had one Autumn and one Six Nations under Joe and as a unit we’re still learning.
“A lot of us have been with Joe for a while but to come in as a new unit and still be progressive and still learning new things – he’s brought different things from his time at Leinster, he’s brought new edges.
“So there’s a lot of space for this team to move forward.”
Healy is confident that a Northern Hemisphere side can claim the World Cup, despite the strong competition from New Zealand, South Africa and Australia in Test rugby.
“There’s no reason for it to not be possible,” he added.
“We’ve been playing good rugby, England have been playing good rugby, France have been playing good rugby.
“So there will be a lot of contenders coming in from the Northern Hemisphere in that. But that’s a long way to go yet, there’s a lot of rugby to be played first.”
Ireland’s next task is the summer tour to Argentina, which Schmidt has revealed he will soon begin the selection process for.
