Ireland Captain Johnny Sexton felt Hugo Keenan and Will Connors made the difference on Saturday afternoon, as they made their Senior International debuts in Ireland's 50-17 bonus point victory over Italy.
24-year-old Keenan went over the line twice in the first half of the Six Nations clash while his Leinster teammate Connors also marked his first senior appearance with a try.
Sexton was impressed with the pair, in what were unusual circumstances at an empty Aviva Stadium.
"We need to improve our accuracy at times but I'm very proud of the effort from all the boys, especially the new cappers.
"I thought they were outstanding - Hugo [Keenan] and Will [Connors], to perform like that in a Six Nations game on your debut is outstanding.
"They typified our performance in terms of the energy, those two led it in many ways.
"Will had energy to get off the line and make tackles but you can't just label him as that because he did some really good things with the ball in hand as well.
"Hugo then got a couple of tries and could have had another one - he had a couple of outstanding finishes so the energy he provided, that work off the ball, ball in the air - all the things you'd expect of a top-class back three player he did and I'm delighted for them.
"They've got some big competition around them - the team we were playing on Wednesday in training was competitive with Keith Earls and James Lowe on the wings, Robbie [Henshaw] and Chris Farrell floating in there too.
"That's what we want, we want competition and we want people pushing each other."
In terms of playing in an empty stadium in an international setting Sexton said this was unusual but felt the side didn't let it get to them.
"The anthems were definitely different, it was very strange listening to yourself singing the songs, I just mimed most of it.
"Look it was different when you're playing for your country we get such good support so it took getting used to.
"I thought we created our own energy really well though, it was something we spoke about before the game.
"I suppose to create your own energy you have to do some good things, you can't create your own energy when you're going backwards or conceding scores.
"I thought we did some good things, we obviously celebrated them and got a good bounce off the back of them.
"We showed some brilliant energy throughout the game."
The win means Andy Farrell's side sit top of the table as they prepare for their final game of the tournament.
They'll also know this week that their destiny is in their own hands and a bonus point win over France in Paris next weekend will see them regain the title, no matter what happens with other results.
Sexton though wasn't getting carried away with this after Saturday's game and said they have a good bit of work to do in the coming days.
"We need to sit down and have a look at this game because some of the things that Italy did to us today France will do to us next week.
"We need to learn the lessons from today, it's a huge challenge to go to France and win, nevermind a bonus point.
"We don't know if that bonus point will be needed because England still have to go to Rome but look we need to just focus on our performance and we're not going to get there without a good performance so we need to focus on that for the next few days, get our recovery right and build into a massive game for us."
Team of Us. Everyone In.
Vodafone. The main sponsor of the Irish Rugby Team
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
