This Ireland team are ‘nowhere near’ where they could be

Captain Caelan Doris insists Ireland are “nowhere near” realising their full potential as they chase the minimum of the Triple Crown following a record win away to England.

Andy Farrell’s side retain an outside chance of reclaiming the Guinness Six Nations title ahead of back-to-back home games against Wales and Scotland.

Following a deflating opening defeat to table-topping France in Paris and a narrow Dublin victory over Italy, Ireland silenced their critics with a thumping 42-21 bonus-point success at Twickenham in round three.

“Obviously there’s a positive feeling after a good performance like that but it’s about the bigger picture, really, and it’s about continuing to grow,” said Doris ahead of Friday evening’s clash with Wales.

“We know we’re nowhere near our potential as a team and there’s a lot of hard work to be put in, and there’s a long journey for us to go on still.

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“It was back to hard work, back to the learnings from the game, of which there were some, as well as some good stuff. It’s just about building on it.

“We’ve got a pretty clear plan of where we want to go in terms of structures and the way we want to play and it’s about chasing that down week on week.”

Ireland go into the penultimate round of fixtures in third place, six points adrift of reigning champions France, who can retain the title with a game to spare by securing a bonus-point success away to Scotland on Saturday.

Wales will run out at a sold-out Aviva Stadium attempting to avoid a 15th consecutive defeat in the championship following a promising display in a 26-23 loss to Scotland.

“I think they’ve grown throughout the tournament,” Leinster back-rower Doris said of Steve Tandy’s team. “You can see the progression game on game.

“Obviously they put it up to Scotland in the most recent fixture. They started well.

“They’ve clearly invested a lot of time in their attack. It’s a good attack and it’s going to be a challenge for our defence.

“I’m sure in camp they’ve been taking a lot of positives from that (Scotland) game.”