Johnny Sexton has his samurai sword, his 15th test try, his 100th cap and his many memories tucked away from a special day in his career, and Ireland's 60-5 Autumn Series entrée over Japan sets things up nicely for next Saturday's main course with New Zealand.
Ireland go into that eagerly anticipated fixture after a sixth successive win, taking their tally of tries in that run to 34 with another nine last Saturday.
Meanwhile, over in Rome, a second string All Blacks were running up their 13th win in 14 Tests this year with a 47-9 win over Italy at the Stadio Olimpico.
New Zealand took their tally to 96 tries in 2021, breaking Argentina’s record of 92 in a calendar year set in 2003, while their total points total of 675 eclipses South Africa’s 658-point haul from 2007.
Like everyone else who has crossed swords with them, Andy Farrell has suffered some bad days against the All Blacks, most notably when defence coach in Ireland's World Cup quarter-final defeat two years ago.
But he’s also been part of those Irish wins in 2016 in Chicago and two years later in Dublin, as well as a win and a draw in the Lions’ shared test series in 2017.
The common denominator?
“You need a bit of luck,” he said with a wry chuckle.
“You need to be 100 per cent at your best and you need to respect them totally but at the same time respect yourself just as much. So yeah, we need to be ourselves this week.”
Whether Ireland will repeat such a freewheeling approach as last Saturday remains to be seen. However, Farrell didn’t necessarily feel that Ireland need to trim their ambitions.
As well as 11 line breaks there were 18 offloads - compared to five in last July’s meeting with Japan - and there appeared to be a greater emphasis on ball carriers freeing their hands in the tackle and others look to run support trailers.
“No, there wasn’t,” maintained Farrell. “We always want them to do that and make the right decision on the back of it. Like all teams, it’s no secret, you want to punch into soft shoulders, and if you dominate the contact then the decision is an easy one on the back of it. Sometimes you don’t get the gain line dominance that you want and you’re not able to do that.
“Look, I thought we were more cohesive as a unit. I thought we played some nice rugby, certainly some nice rugby out the back, but we also played some nice rugby through the front door as well, and the balance was pretty good.”
It always felt as if the core of this team would pitch up at kick-off time next Saturday, and it felt even more so after such a convincing performance which actually began to waver a tad with the customary wave of replacements.
For example, the odds on Jamison Gibson-Park retaining his place despite the experience of Conor Murray - himself part of that Lions drawn series and the win in Chicago - have probably shortened after such an effervescent display.
Farrell was utterly vindicated in his selection, and after that rarity in Test rugby, namely a clean bill of health, at face value it would seem like a straightforward case of picking an unchanged team.
“There’s a little bit more to it than that,” smiled Farrell. “We’re pretty fortunate that it looks like we’ve come through the game pretty good on the fitness front; a lot of the lads have put their hands up through performance.
“We’ll see how they are tomorrow when they turn up for recovery and we’ll make our decisions from there. We’re in a good spot on that front.”
Going into last Saturday’s game, one might have anticipated Jamison Gibson-Park coming under pressure from Conor Murray given the latter’s experience, strong kicking game and proven record against the All Blacks.
Murray did well when he came on, one wicked grubber setting up Andrew Conway’s third try, but Gibson-Park was a constant hub to this display and he garnished his own performance with an inventive grubber for Conway’s first as well as his own try.
It was Gibson-Park’s 11th test, and his most assured and complete.
“Yeah, I thought he was excellent,” said Farrell. “I said during the week that he’s flourishing in this environment now. There’s quite a few boys that we talked about last week that are quite young as far as experience is concerned at international level. Jamison’s certainly more comfortable in his own skin and he knows now how to handle weeks. He knows now how to bring his own game to the table and if he does that then we all benefit.”
There's also stiff competition on the wings, yet as well as Conway's hat-trick, James Lowe had a busily effective outing, leading the way in metres gained, 159, and offloads, six, as well as some fine kicks.
Farrell said Lowe has responded to a “little bit of a wake-up call”.
“He went away and understood how he needed to prepare for international rugby. His preparation is through the roof in comparison to what it was before. He’s learned the hard way. There’s a few things that he needs to get better from today as well but his attitude is in the right place and I’m sure that will happen.”
“But he finds a way into the game, he’s not a tidy player but neither do we want our players to be tidy players, he finds a way into the game, he’s in great nick, he’s lost a bit of weight and is fit.”
