Ireland prop Cian Healy has said that his side are "very confident" that they can break their Six Nations duck when they host Italy in Dublin on Saturday.

Joe Schmidt's side went into this year's tournament having lifted the trophy in each of the past two seasons, but they remain winless this time around following a draw and two defeats from their opening three games.

Healy admitted that it would be a "big thing" to pick up that elusive victory, but insists that they will not be making any changes to their style of play.

"It is a big thing for us not having a win so far but it is not going to change our gameplan. We are very confident in what we do, how we train and how it is all put together," Healy is quoted as saying by PA.

"We are just working on the latter stages of our phases and keeping them as strong as possible. I haven't played at home. It is a new one for me coming in. To me it is the first home game of the tournament, and that's how I'm treating it.

"We have a lot of pride in what we do. We wouldn't want to be losing to anyone in Dublin. It is something that we have been trying to build on for the last couple of years, to make our home a very hard place for people to come to, and we don't want that to change."

Schmidt has never lost a home Six Nations match as head coach of Ireland.