All Blacks leave Irish with familiar sinking feeling

After Ireland were bulk suppliers to the British and Irish Lions victorious effort in Australia last summer, this was always set to be a long season for plenty of Farrell's squad.

Both in Auckland and across the year as a whole, the head coach can point to degrees of mitigation.

Ireland travelled to the southern hemisphere without their captain Caelan Doris after the number eight sustained an injury in Leinster's United Rugby Championship final win over the Bulls on the eve of departure.

Wing James Lowe's controversial departure from the province denied Farrell another long-serving stalwart, while Jack Crowley's injury continued the sense of upheaval at the key fly-half position.

Andrew Porter, the side's vital loose-head prop, has not played Test rugby since November, nor have his primary understudies Paddy McCarthy and Jack Boyle.

In a year so beset by injuries, Ireland have still won a Triple Crown, were mere moments away from a Six Nations title and won a pair of Tests in the southern hemisphere.

Farrell also gave eight players their international debut through the season, including four against Japan this month, as he builds towards next year's World Cup.

The tournament in Australia was quickly brought up by stand-in skipper Dan Sheehan in his post-match interviews with this result again showing the improvements Ireland must make if they are to finally make their mark on the global showpiece in 15 months' time.

"I'm proud of the boys, I'm proud of the season we had," said the hooker.

"We really targeted this game, but we'll learn the lessons and we'll go into next season firing. We know where we are now and we know the work we have to do. It's going to be a big year coming up in the lead up to the World Cup.

"We need to hit the ground running next year and we need to keep getting better."