Simon Easterby will add layers but won't reinvent the Ireland wheel

Interim Ireland boss Simon Easterby has the leeway to implement change and the evolvution of the team must continue regardless of who is in charge.

GLADIATORS: Pictured (L-R) Wales’ Jac Morgan, England’s Maro Itoje, France’s Antoine Dupont, Ireland’s Caelan Doris, Scotland’s Rory Darge and Italy’s Michele Lamaro at the launch of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations Championship at the Colosseum in Rome Pic: Billy Stickland, Inpho

Andy Farrell might have departed the scene, for a while at least, but Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations title defence will not lose momentum with Simon Easterby holding the reins.

While the head coach is away for eight months as he devotes himself to leading the British & Irish Lions to series win against Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies in Australia this summer, the caretaker boss intends to maintain a balance between continuity of the methods that have delivered back-to-back titles in the championship and the additions necessary to taking Ireland onto a higher plane in order to secure a third in a row in 2025.