Stephen Ferris has said that he considers the result more important than the performance following Ireland's 42-10 triumph over Italy in the Six Nations this afternoon.

The home side were unable to secure their grip on the game until the second half, with two of their five tries coming in the final five minutes of the contest. However, Ferris insists that it was important to remain patient.

"It was a good team performance," he told the BBC. "We just seemed to outwork them in the second half. We knew the scores would come.

"We talked about it all week. In the world cup, it took us 45-50 minutes to break them down.

"We talked about putting in a big performance. The tries came in the end but the result was the main thing. We worked hard all week. I thought our skill level out there was fantastic, we just need to keep it going."

Meanwhile, the Italians remain without a win with three games gone.