Brian O'Driscoll told UTV Ireland got the result they "deserved" after the Grand Slam champions launched their RBS 6 Nations title defence with a faltering victory over Italy at Croke Park on Saturday.
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Ireland need to address the fallout from their laboured 29-11 victory, before meeting France - the team considered the most likely to seize their crown - in Paris next week.
O'Driscoll admitted after Saturday's match that there was "plenty to improve on".
The Irish skipper said he was pleased to win, although the Italians made it hard for the Grand Slam champions.
"We weren't expecting fireworks this week", O'Driscoll told UTV.
"I wouldn't say we performed brilliantly but we got the result we deserved."
"We'll need to bring a lot more sharpness (against France) and raise our game. We'll look back at the videos and see where we went wrong", said O'Driscoll ahead of a "big week's training".
On Saturday, Jamie Heaslip and Tomas O'Leary crossed the line to help establish a 23-8 interval lead, but the Grand Slam champions then lost their way.
Italy, who scored their try through a Kaine Robertson charge down, staged a damage limitation exercise after the one-sided first half.
Ronan O'Gara kept the scoreboard ticking over and finished with 16 points until his departure with 15 minutes to go, but it was a far from convincing afternoon for Ireland.
With one eye on France, head coach Declan Kidney brought off O'Gara, Jerry Flannery, Andrew Trimble and Paul O'Connell towards the end of the match, with Paddy Wallace taking over the kicking duties.
"Starting with a win is what you want to do", Kidney told UTV.
"For a group that hasn't been together for two months, let's not get too greedy.
"The Italians played a different type of game to last year and opportunities weren't there for us," he added.
Jamie Heaslip said Ireland answered their many critics in the scrum, traditionally an area of Italian strength that was subdued at Croke Park.
"We were all over the place at points in the second half and lost our shape a bit," he said.
"There was a load of kicking and it was hard to build any momentum, but we're happy with the way our lineout and scrum went.
"There are little things that need to be tweaked. There's nothing to be worried about. A bit of tweaking and it will be fine", Heaslip said.
© UTV News