Rassie Erasmus has described Ireland's rugby system as "precision farming" and the last year has shown how delicate the ecosystem is. All the analysis that followed the alarming defeats to France, New Zealand and South Africa remains valid and the issues that cropped up remain worthy of attention. Yet it all feels a little less alarming after a weekend where the senior side issued a stunning riposte to those who believed they are a beaten docket and the U-20s showed there's life in the pathways yet.
A week that has seen the Ireland out-half debate propelled front and centre of the rugby agenda once again meant it was timely to gauge the thoughts of Johnny Sexton, who has been through similar scrutiny as a player, but now finds himself as one of the main decision-makers in this area.
Rúaidhrí O'Connor: The fact that the lesser heralded players are the ones making the big plays. Stuart McCloskey is the team's totem, Jamie Osborne was superb, and Robert Baloucoune and Cormac Izuchukwu are to the manner born. In the long run, the squad will be a lot stronger for the experience.
Eddie O'Sullivan says he was "shocked" by some of Andy Farrell's post-match comments, when he bemoaned his Ireland side's "lack of intent" in the 36-14 defeat to France in the opening game of the 2026 Six Nations.
Andy Farrell has been left reeling by another blow, with news that Hugo Keenan is out of Ireland's opening Six Nations game against France on Thursday week after suffering a fractured thumb in training yesterday.
"I had to beat traffic to get out to the High Performance Centre and I had a long work call between 8am and 11am," Johnny Sexton recalls. "The lads were then coming out to training and I was sitting there in the car with my shirt on. Call over, I'd have to take it off, put my gear on, jump out, train with the lads, do the kicking session, back into the car and off to work again for the rest of the day."
But Andy Farrell is a slick operator and would have circled this date in red on his calendar long before Erasmus and his gang touched down at Dublin Airport. He'll no doubt have a few tricks up his sleeve. Ireland, though, have not managed to kick on in quote the same fashion. The loss of Johnny Sexton is still keenly felt and there is an over reliance on some players who are in the autumn of their careers.
Scoreboard flattered Andy Farrell's team but bench-impact is a positive That the better side won convincingly - on the scoreboard at least - is beyond dispute but that the better side deserved to win convincingly is not. Before Saturday's game against Japan, Andy Farrell had declared his pre-match mantra as "a lot needing to be better as far as accuracy is concerned but our intent in how we play the game, we need a reaction to that".
Breaking | Ireland 41 Japan 10 Don't be fooled. The one-sided scoreline only tells part of the story because for large periods of this sleepy lunchtime affair in Dublin 4, Ireland were very poor. They got the win they needed after last weekend's defeat to the All Blacks, yet this sloppy display was far removed from the response that head coach Andy Farrell demanded.
Michael Bent's Ireland career ended in the same manner that it had started 10 years earlier. Initially parachuted into the squad from left-field, or the family farm in New Zealand to be precise, Bent (who qualified to play for Ireland through his Dublin-born grandmother) later came full circle when he was again called up out of the blue - this time on home soil during Ireland's 2022 summer tour.
Ireland hope to back up last week's opening World Cup win over Japan with another victory at Franklin's Gardens in Northampton this afternoon. Scott Bemand has made seven changes for today's game against Spain, as the side keep one eye on their final Pool C clash with New Zealand next Sunday. Rian Noctor takes you through all the action below on our liveblog.
