In contrast, Ireland’s confidence looked shot to pieces and they were again found wanting against one of the sides against whom they like to measure themselves.
Last year, France tore Ireland to shreds in the second half, scoring 34 unanswered points in a stunning response to losing Antoine Dupont to injury.
In Chicago in November, the All Blacks ran away from Ireland with three tries in 15 second-half minutes, before Farrell’s side were brutally overpowered by scrum-masters South Africa.
With questions over Ireland’s direction intensifying after that autumn campaign, Farrell is facing one of the most daunting challenges of his six-year reign.
For former Ireland full-back Rob Kearney, the current situation is the first time this Irish group has felt “real pressure” to turn things around.
“I was less concerned about the performances in November,” Kearney said on the Ireland Rugby Social.
“Guys were not very battle-hardened. They were coming off that long tour, they hadn’t played a huge amount of rugby. They went to Chicago, half the team hadn’t played 100 minutes [in the season].
“We lost that game but it was in the balance for 60 minutes. Then you come against South Africa, who are playing a different game to any other team in the world at the moment, so I had given them a little bit of a pass.”
He added: “But in truth, if you go back to September and looked at our fixtures, you would have said ‘OK, there is a very good chance we’re going to lose to New Zealand, South Africa, France and then we go away to Twickenham and there’s a good chance we lose there too’.
“So it’s the first time that this team have come under real pressure and real scrutiny. It’s going to be a different challenge for them.”
