If the World Cup was being played this month Ireland would win it, of that I have no doubt.

They may not be officially the world's number one team, but I think we all know the score.

I suppose the question, after their near perfect performance against the All Blacks on Saturday, is whether it can ever get better than this for the Irish?

The challenge for Joe Schmidt's men will be to sustain form through the Six Nations and on to Japan - with every other team trying to knock them off their perch - and to improve further.

One thing that is certain is that the All Blacks will be brooding about this defeat for some time and will undoubtedly come back all guns blazing.