For Ireland to succeed after Joe Schmidt would be the ultimate legacy

Whenever in football it’s announced in advance that a certain manager will be finishing up with a particular team at the end of the season, the reflex in this part of the world is to reference the example of Alex Ferguson back in 2001-02.

On the eve of that season, Ferguson had declared that it would be his last. By the following January, with United enjoying a purple patch of form, he had changed his mind, but as the league table in May would prove, United had paid the cost of being in catch-up mode for most of the season. For the first time in 11 years, they finished outside the top two, having lost six of their opening 15 games.