Captain Johnny Sexton says Ireland must keep evolving in order to avoid repeating the mistake of peaking too soon for a World Cup.
The Irish travelled to the 2019 tournament in Japan with high expectations following a Six Nations Grand Slam and a statement victory over New Zealand the previous year but suffered a familiar quarter-final exit.
With the 2023 World Cup on the horizon, Andy Farrellās in-form side are poised to test their current credentials during a three-match series against the All Blacks.
Fly-half Sexton, who will retire after next yearās competition in France, is striving to maintain the upward trajectory having helped silence the doubters during an unconvincing start to Farrellās reign as head coach.
āWe were written off left, right and centre and weāve come back and weāve showed some great stuff,ā he told Sky Sports ahead of Saturdayās first Test in Auckland.
āWeāve had some great results to go with it because we were always saying, āitās coming, itās comingā and I think people were looking at us going, āis it really?ā. And now weāve got to keep it going.
āWeāve got to keep improving because thatās the mistake we made in the last cycle for the World Cup; we probably peaked in 2018 and we didnāt continue to evolve and thatās what weāre keen to not let happen.ā
Ireland have won 12 of their last 13 Tests, including defeating New Zealand 29-20 in Dublin last autumn to partially avenge World Cup elimination at their hands in Tokyo.
Sexton, who turns 37 in less than a fortnight, will lead his country at Eden Park this weekend, with further meetings with Ian Fosterās All Blacks to come in Dunedin and Wellington.

He believes the tour is the ideal opportunity to increase squad depth, with five uncapped players among the initial 40-man travelling party.
āWeāve put some fresh faces on this tour that we need to get up to speed, that we need to create that really competitive environment for that next World Cup,ā he said.
āWe need a lot of guys to be ready and thatās what the point of this tour is, to test us and to see how deep we can go in our squad.ā
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