'No emotion' for Farrell in winning Irish send-off

Farrell will hand the Ireland reins to defence coach Simon Easterby while he focuses on the Lions

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell insists he was able to park emotion as he signed off before commencing his British and Irish Lions duties with a hard-fought victory over Australia.

Farrell is temporarily stepping aside from his Ireland post to focus on leading the Lions' series against the Wallabies next summer.

While that means he will miss Ireland's Six Nations defence, the Englishman said he had "no emotion" after his side battled back to secure a 22-19 win over Joe Schmidt's Australia.

"The only thing that matters is this autumn and obviously there is a bit of planning that needs to be happening," said Farrell.

"But the Lions have been brilliant in allowing me to get on with my job. We'll celebrate the autumn and Cian [Healy]'s 134th cap and the IRFU's 150th anniversary well tonight and what tomorrow will bring, it will bring."

Farrell's side summoned resilience and grit to seal a third successive win despite a sub-par performance which included 28 handling errors and 20 turnovers conceded.

Mistakes have been a theme throughout Ireland's performances in the Autumn Nations Series, with Farrell admitting his team's "timing" was "off" in Saturday's win.

"You obviously take the positives from being down there in the right parts of the field but some of them were simple ball in hand, ball is there and they're dropping it," he said.

"Some of it was line-out stuff. With some of it we were being a little bit fancy and not seeing the pass, just presuming that people are going to be there, so our timing was a bit off.

"Our stats over the last how many years have been really good in terms of when we get in front early in the first half, our winning percentage is high.

"It's not as great when you're losing but to be eight points down and find a way is very pleasing for us."

Schmidt 'heartened' by Wallabies progress

Schmidt (right) hugs record-breaking Ireland prop Cian Healy after being denied a win on his return to Irish soil

Farrell's opposite number in next year's Lions series will be Joe Schmidt, his predecessor in Dublin, who narrowly missed out on a winning return to Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

Schmidt, who won three Six Nations titles in six years as Ireland boss, replaced Eddie Jones following Australia's disastrous World Cup campaign.

And while the autumn campaign has ended with back-to-back defeats after starting with wins over England and Wales, Schmidt says he is "heartened" by the progress his squad have made ahead of the Lions series.

"Maybe not yet," was his honest assessment when asked if Australia are "ready" to take on the Lions.

"But I think and I hope our supporters and supporters of the Lions can see enough in what we've delivered in these last four weeks to think that they're going to be entertained and that it's going to be a contest.

"So, that's what I'd love to see and maybe not yet. We've still got some work to do for sure and I felt that there were times tonight where we've still got some guys who've only played a couple of Tests and they're still learning."

Australia will not play again until the summer but Schmidt believes they can maintain their cohesion and momentum.

"They're not going to get a lot of learning as far as Test matches are concerned next year, but the Super Rugby window will be great for them to build again," he added.

"I've got to say the Super Rugby coaches, I talk to them often and we're going to try to keep building that momentum.

"By the time the Lions arrive, I'm hoping next July that you'll see a Wallaby team worthy of taking them on head on."