Captain Caelan Doris admits back-to-back champions Ireland must improve and evolve to continue their recent dominance of the Guinness Six Nations.
Ireland are bidding to become the first country to lift the title three years in a row since the tournament was expanded in 2000.
Interim boss Simon Easterby will oversee this year's championship challenge after head coach Andy Farrell stepped down temporarily to focus on managing the British and Irish Lions' tour of Australia this summer.
Leinster back-rower Doris has played down the significance of his team being installed as title favorites by the bookies and is wary of the threat posed by rival nations ahead of the game against England on February 1.
“I didn't actually look at the bookies,” the 26-year-old said during Tuesday's Six Nations opener in Rome.
“We know how competitive it is and it's about (about) improving and preparing as well as possible. I don't think we take that (betting odds) too much into account.
“It's the awareness that if we don't continue to improve, someone else will take the reins.
“Since the first meeting yesterday, it has been about our evolution and improvement. In every game you can't take anything for granted and that's the great thing about this competition.
“We have England at home first and it's hard to look beyond that at the moment.
“In terms of our preparation and mindset in general, it's a need to develop and a need to improve individually and collectively. It's an exciting prospect.”
Ireland are at home to England in the Six Nations opener
Doris replaced Peter O'Mahony at the helm before an inconsistent autumn series that began with a loss to New Zealand but ended with three wins from four after narrow wins over Argentina and Australia, either side of a comfortable victory over Fiji.
Defense coach Easterby took over from Farrell at the end of that campaign.
The 49-year-old former Ireland and Lions striker, who joined his country's staff in 2014, gathered his squad in Dublin on Monday and Doris backed him to excel in his new role.
Asked about the differences between Easterby and Farrell, Doris said: “It's hard to say because it's only been a matter of hours until now, but Si has been incredible for us over the last few years.
“He has a lot of respect among the players in how he runs our defense and how he is as a person and how he gets along with the players.
“A lot of what you're looking for in a head coach, you've seen from him over the last few years.
“Faz (Farrell) was obviously a big figure for us, but we've also had Johnny (Sexton) who we've lost in the past as well.
“Rather than any one person trying to fill a void, it's a shared responsibility. I'm sure the leadership group will take some of that. But there's also a ton of faith.”