Six Nations: Ireland lock Devin Toner respects Italy's threat

Ireland lock Devin Toner has full respect for the threat posed by Italy in Saturday's Six Nations opener in Rome.

Joe Schmidt's men showed improvement over the autumn internationals and beat South Africa, Georgia and Australia - but Toner warns that the Azzurri are not to be underestimated and believes they'll be at their best early in the tournament.

The Leinster man said: "They are at their best at the start of the tournament, and at their best at home," said Toner. "So we're under no illusions that it will be a lot tougher than people think.

"They've got a vast amount of experience and they're very, very passionate at home, so we've got a very tough game ahead of us.

"We'll let everyone else think about points difference and all that, literally our sole focus is getting the win in Rome.

"We know how hard it will be, so that's our sole aim really. Personally I don't care about whether we're favourites, I don't think about it at all.

"My sole focus and the team's is the next game. If we don't do well in Rome then that's out of the window isn't it Maybe it's not surprising given we won all three games in November, but let them talk: we'll let people say what they want.

"We've just got to get our performance right on Saturday. The lads don't take anything for granted these days, the competition is getting tighter and tighter every year and I don't think we'll get caught flat-footed."