Andy Farrell-Simon Easterby transition so far so good for Ireland

Andy Farrell wasn't happy with the line of questioning when speaking to reporters after Ireland's Autumn Nations Series loss to New Zealand, a result which brought a 19-game winning streak in Dublin to a halt.

"After one game, it’s amazing really isn’t it, that we’re talking about s**t like that," was how he put it when asked if he was worried about the team's future.

He subsequently got the results he wanted but the performances in wins over Argentina and Australia were off the mark, as many players have alluded to in the build-up to the Guinness Six Nations.

There was more to come, they insisted, it wasn’t the end of the line for this bunch of back-to-back champions.

There was some regeneration but lingering in the background was a feeling that we’d been down this road before.

It’s only six years ago, as the wheels came off Joe Schmidt’s Grand Slam vintage class, Irish fans were being assured that it would all come together at the 2019 World Cup: the loss to England was as shock, Wales was a blip, Japan was a jolt to the system and on it went until the inevitable loss to New Zealand in the quarter-final.

When Farrell was named as the Lions coach for the summer tour back in January of 2024, Ireland needed a stand-in, and after taking two Emerging Ireland tours, Simon Easterby emerged as the obvious candidate.

The former flanker had been part of the set-up since 2014 and was not a boat-rocker by any stretch of the imagination.

The first squad was along expected lines and he stuck with 21-year-old Sam Prendergast at out-half, resisting the temptation to reinstall Six Nations ever-present Jack Crowley.

"Simon is an unbelievable coach in terms of being around the dressing room for I’m not sure how many years, a long time," said