New era.

Ireland look set to reshuffle their coaching ticket following Joe Schmidt’s departure and Andy Farrell’s appointment as their new head coach.

Farrell has been working as Ireland’s defence coach since arriving back in 2016 but he looks set to give up his defence duties in order to fully focus on his new role as the new man in charge.

According to The42, Farrell will no longer be a “hands-on defence coach” with forwards coach Simon Easterby set to fill that role going forward, allowing the former Rugby League man to focus “more broadly” on running the entire ship.

Elsewhere, as already announced, John Fogarty will take over from Greg Feek as scrum coach with former England international Mike Catt joining as Ireland’s new attack coach.

The report also suggests that Farrell will not look to bring in any other additional coaches, with assistant coach Richie Murphy also set to stick around having signed a new contract extension before the World Cup alongside Easterby.

With no Autumn internationals this year as a result of the Rugby World Cup, Farrell will be thrown straight into the deep end for his first game against Scotland in the 2020 Six Nations.

The 44-year-old has never held a head coach role before and has some massive decisions to make in the coming months, including selecting a new captain following Rory Best’s retirement.

He also has some big calls to make in terms of selection with a number of Ireland’s key men over the last few seasons not getting any younger. The focus now shifts to a brand new Rugby World Cup cycle, and one Ireland will be hoping ends a lot better than the last one.