Paul O'Connell says Ireland are aiming to learn from their mistakes in the Autumn internationals going into their defence of the Six Nations.
Joe Schmidt's men beat both Australia and South Africa in a highly successful November - but neither victory was without sloppiness within the Irish performance.
"November was great for us," said captain O'Connell at this morning's Six Nations launch in London. "Any time we can take those big scalps as we did, South Africa and Australia, is always a good autumn.
"Disappointed with the way we finished the South African game. Probably a bit happier with how we finished the Australia game .
"We had a very disappointing experience the previous autumn were we were in a good position against New Zealand and didn't close the game out.
"We managed to do that this autumn. There's a lot of things to work on as well.
"We built up a healthy lead in that Australia game and let it slip through a few defensive lapses, and we've heard a lot about those since. We'll be looking to rectify those for the Six Nations."
*Official Announcement* The #rbs6nations has a new trophy! http://t.co/cvWA86Bxjj pic.twitter.com/5MNNiB1Mv3
— RBS 6 Nations (@rbs_6_nations) January 28, 2015
Ireland are Six Nations favourites with the bookies and begin the defence of their trophy in Italy on February 7.
"It's something I was unaware of," said O'Connell of his side's odds.
"We came into camp over Christmas and we were expecting a big review and a big plan for the year ahead but all we did was ... everything we did was around Italy and preparing for that first game.
"And it's been the same since we came in Sunday evening into camp.
"I suppose it avoids any of those distractions of looking at the bigger picture. That's all we've done, just prepared for Italy and ignored everything else."
*Sneak Peek* into the Green Room at the #rbs6nations media launch. 15 minutes to go. pic.twitter.com/uhxTx43b7Y
— RBS 6 Nations (@rbs_6_nations) January 28, 2015
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.
