TWICKENHAM, London -- Having helped Ireland win a third Grand Slam, record-breaking wing Jacob Stockdale set his sights on helping Joe Schmidt's side usurp New Zealand as the world's No. 1 team.
Stockdale became the first player to score seven tries in a single Six Nations campaign as he raced onto his own smart chip before reacting quickest when it ricocheted off his knees to dot down just before it rolled dead.
Coming on the stroke of half-time it was a pivotal moment in Ireland's 24-15 victory over England at Twickenham and typical of a player who has become an integral piece in the Irish jigsaw in his first season of Test rugby.
Speaking of his own try-scoring potential, the man with 11 international tries in nine Ireland appearances joked that "the sky is the limit" and the same can be said of a team boasting five starters who were 23 or younger.
The squad was denied the opportunity to parade the Six Nations trophy in front of their supporters after heavy snowfall in Dublin led the Irish Rugby Football Union Sunday's planned homecoming event at the Aviva Stadium.
But if Stockdale gets his way then Saturday's triumph won't be the least this group of players has to celebrate. "We've won a Grand Slam, and that's the first stepping stone to being a dominant team in world rugby," he said.
"We're sitting No. 2 in the world, and we're excited to have a crack at New Zealand. We're in a really good place right now but there's still a lot to work on.
"We can look forward to next year's Six Nations and then the World Cup.
"Look, Joe [Schmidt] hasn't said 'New Zealand is the target' but your ambition is to be the best team in the world and to do that you have to beat the best team in the world. At the minute that's New Zealand.
"We're going to keep training and working as hard as we can."
Stockdale's rise from exciting prospect to international mainstay has been rapid. Having made his Ireland debut on last summer's tour of the United States and Japan, the Ulster wing is now a Grand Slam winner in his first season as a Test player.
"It's one of the best feelings I've ever had in a rugby shirt and to do it in my first time is pretty special," Stockdale added.
"It was incredible. We'd been told the families were in the corner so we managed to get over there. I got a hug from my mum and my dad, my girlfriend. My mum was crying, that was a bit embarrassing. It's brilliant to share moments like that with the family."