Jonny Sexton believes Triple Crown win is one step on Ireland’s road to success

Captain Johnny Sexton says Triple Crown success is just one step on Ireland’s journey as they build towards next year’s World Cup.

The Irish claimed the first major silverware of Andy Farrell’s reign following a dominant 26-5 bonus-point victory over Scotland in Dublin.

But Farrell’s men were denied outright Guinness Six Nations glory as France later completed the Grand Slam by defeating England in Paris.

Tries from Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Josh Van Der Flier and Conor Murray threw down the gauntlet for Les Bleus, while Sexton added three conversions.

The veteran fly-half is heartened by Ireland’s recent progress and, with one eye on the 2023 tournament in France, full of belief for the future.

He said: “We’ve got great potential, haven’t we?

“That’s what we have at the moment and we’ve got to make it reality and we’ve got to keep building over the next, whatever it is, 18 months to make sure that when it does come around we’ve taken a slightly different approach.

TRIPLE CROWN! Take a look at the best photos as Ireland were crowned Triple Crown champions in @AvivaStadium #GuinnessSixNations I #TeamOfUS I #IREvSCO

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“We’ve started talking about it already that this is the journey, which is a different approach to the previous management that I’ve worked under, which I think is the right way to do it.

“We’re confident in the journey we’re on. But at the moment it’s only an opportunity. We need to keep developing.”

Defeat to champions France in round two of the championship ultimately denied Ireland the title.

They bounced back from the narrow 30-24 loss at Stade de France with three consecutive bonus-point victories to make it 13 wins from 14 dating back to the end of last year’s