Gerry Thornley: This is Andy Farrell’s Ireland now - he’s on to something special

It’s not easy following a genius and the most successful Irish head coach of all time. Joe Schmidt’s era may have ended anti-climatically but he was still a hard act to follow, probably the toughest, not least for a promoted number two.

How to follow that? Well, not only oversee a third win over the All Blacks in the last five years and five games, after 111 years and 28 games without doing so once, but to do so with probably the best of the three performances to date.

Although it has been bubbling along nicely, ending three damagingly emphatic defeats by England when humbling them last March, this was a signature win. If not quite a stroke therefore, this Ireland is most definitely Andy Farrell's team now.

There had been positive signals in home wins over Wales and Scotland and then, until Peter O'Mahony's sending off and even after it, away to Wales. But until that impressive win over England, Farrell's tenure had been trucking along while critical pundits and ex-players lurked in the long grass.

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With this seventh successive win, Farrell, Mike Catt et al have established their credentials to guide this side for at least the rest of this World Cup cycle.

Farrell had pulled off a coup by bringing aboard Paul O'Connell and for all the debate about the dependency on Johnny Sexton and, yawn, his age, in this and much else Farrell has made a slew of good decisions.

Despite Dan Sheehan becoming the 23nd new cap of his reign in just 17 games a week ago against Japan, Farrell has been accused of being conservative in his selections.

Yet he has been stealthily remoulding this team, with Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher, Caelan Doris, Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe and Hugo Keenan all becoming established frontline players.

In style as well as substance, Farrell has wrought a subtle transformation which was always going to take time, something an impatient modern world is less inclined to afford new head coaches or managers.

Schmidt left huge legacies and foundations. Farrell is different, less prescriptive and more inclined to give the players ownership and - if not quite an antidote to his former boss - looks like the ideal successor.

Off consistently good attacking shapes, this team has increasingly explored broader attacking horizons and played with more width to a high tempo. It’s been evident in the five wins which signed off last season and has come thrillingly, vibrantly to life in the last two games.

Among Farrell’s favourite phrases is ‘next moment focused’, and as much as the skills, intent and intensity in this performance was the mental strength to continually bounce back from all manner of disappointments - be it the failure to take chances, regroup after trailing 10-5 at the end of a dominant first period or respond to the All Blacks two tries. They retained their next moment focus for 80 minutes.

All aboard, at least for the time being anyway. You’ve got to think he may be on to something special here.