The Irish returned from Bordeaux with a second successive defeat after being mauled 19-12 by France, who they host in the return at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
It is important Ireland build some momentum for the World Cup by winning their two remaining internationals, with England completing the schedule on August 27.
Kidney stresses that losses to Scotland and France have failed to dent the team's confidence, but knows it will take a top performance to return to winning ways on Saturday.
"We can take some comfort from the second half we produced on Saturday, but now we have France again," said the head coach.
"There are easier matches to play - it's not exactly a confidence builder we're looking at.
"We're behind in our preparations in that we've lost two matches, but we've done a lot of damage to ourselves in the first half of both matches.
"Individually we're playing quite well and I can't fault anyone. We'd be in a far worse situation if individuals were playing poorly
"You can't defend the way we have in the last two matches by showing a lack of attitude, so our attitude has been excellent.
"I'm not really concerned by the impact losing these games will have on confidence.
"We're a bit annoyed but we know what we're about. Had we won the two I'd be asked if we were getting over confident."
France raced into a 13-0 lead at the Stade Chaban-Delmas and Ireland never recovered, despite staging an encouraging fightback in the second half.
Kidney was frustrated by the performance and insists retaining possession has become the key objective for his team.
"We play these matches to win them. I think too much of the players to accept defeat," he said.
"We need to improve from game to game as you would at any time next year and that's what we must do for next week.
"The players are disappointed themselves. It was a shock to the system coming off pre-season, but we've never made excuses so we won't start now.
"We must hold onto the ball better. We spilled about three balls in the first half, just giving them possession.
"When you do that, it means you'll probably be without the ball for the next two minutes.
"Multiply that by three and it means you're without the ball for six minutes, which then puts your defence under more pressure. But it's all fixable."
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