Positives and possibilities abound for Irish rugby

What a tour, what a season, what does it all mean?

An Ireland squad that achieved so much in 2017-18 has arrived home from Australia and gone its separate ways for a well-earned summer break after crowning Irish rugby’s most successful season with another piece of history secured in the dying moments of the campaign.

CJ Stander will this morning be back on his family’s farm in George, South Africa, clocking up a different set of minutes to the 673 he gave in game-time to the national team this season. Rob Herring will be in Belfast opening his new coffee shop while Jack McGrath prepares for his wedding and dozens of others hit a myriad of beaches from the Med to Middle East and further afield.