LONG READ Brendan Fanning: 'The problem with the good times in this country is we expect them to roll on forever.'

Spare a thought for the Ireland squad who were booked on an early flight out of Rome last Sunday morning. If you’re budgeting for a Grand Slam then you can’t afford to be stuck in the Eternal City when you’re supposed to be at a celebration event in the Aviva Stadium. So book early. Which is what Ireland did.

It’s not in the same class as printing t-shirts in advance, declaring yourselves triple champions for the first time in your history – this did not happen! – but it’s unavoidably awkward when things don’t go according to plan. Not much for Ireland in this Championship went according to that plan, aside from the trophy that dare not speak its name. Did anyone mention the Triple Crown?

Taken in conjunction with the under 20s it reads as follows: third in the senior version of the Six Nations, bottom of the pile in the 20s equivalent. In modern Ireland that qualifies as a mini crisis. Before you lose your lunch however, next season’s under 20s will be a good deal better. As it happens the current crop will look a bit different as soon as the summer when they will have five automatic starters fit again in their pack. Coincidentally that U20 Championship will take place in northern Italy, where they looked so ordinary last Friday night. Ireland are in the same pool as the hosts, Georgia and New Zealand.

Moreover, there is an alternative way of looking at the stats for the senior side: Ireland won four of their five games, following a November series where they won three from four. The two defeats were against New Zealand and France. It’s hardly a run of unbroken misery.

The problem with the good times in this country is we expect them, like a losing streak in Wales, to roll on forever. That’s why the estimate of Irish fans over in Rome was somewhere between 30,000 and 35,000. Inevitably that involved some circuitous travelling. A colleague of mine was a bit slow out of the traps and had to go via Frankfurt on the way out. The bemused cabin crew had to declare the drinks trolley empty before the midway point. It was an unbridled party where the high point was scheduled to coincide with champagne rugby from the boys in green.

While the Lions are in Australia, Ireland have back-to-back July Tests against Georgia and Portugal. That’s a better trip for supporters than it is for those of us scoring the next generation.

At no point on the journey did Ireland leave anyone breathless with the quality of what they were doing. Nevertheless, by any stretch it was a decent start: bonus point wins over England and Scotland set us up for a record demolition of Wales, only to slide back into the bang average category. The tail end was clouded by the brilliance of France, who gave us a masterclass on a few fronts, not least how to raise your game when the opposition lose a man to the bin, before the dull finish. If it was a movie you were watching then the lip-sync was a bit off. Which brought us back to the November series, and the feeling at its end that this side were stuck on a plateau.

This is where you’d yearn for a top quality summer tour, to see how the next in line might fare. Instead, while the Lions are in Australia, Ireland have back-to-back July Tests against Georgia and Portugal. That’s a better trip for supporters than it is for those of us scoring the next generation.

Firstly there is the unappealing prospect for those who thought they would be with Andy Farrell in Australia being called up for what is a development gig. Because of the dramatic nature of the Six Nations a bad finish can change the mood utterly in that picture. By close of business in Paris on Saturday night, with the Scots playing the best rugby of the day from the four sides making up the Lions party, Irish players were suffering wipeout on social media.

None of those platforms would feature large in the thinking of Andy Farrell. He is loyal to a fault, so the players he left in the hands of Simon Easterby at the end of the November series will still be the backbone of his Test team Down Under.

Even with a dip in form from Jamison Gibson-Park – we have become too accustomed to him being outstanding in every game – the Kiwi is the [Lions] best option at scrum-half.

That would mean Andrew Porter and Dan Sheehan nailed on with Tadhg Furlong to follow if he can stay fit. Joe McCarthy is likely to recover from the kicking he received for an admittedly daft yellow card against France. In the back row Caelan Doris is still the best number eight available just as Josh van der Flier is the best open side.

Even with a dip in form from Jamison Gibson-Park – we have become too accustomed to him being outstanding in every game – the Kiwi is the best option at scrumhalf, while Bundee Aki’s unique ability to deliver go-forward locks down the 12 shirt for him. That’s a pretty good return. The lads under pressure will be those outside the Test side who might be overtaken by Ireland’s slow finish to the Championship. And the most interesting in that category is Hugo Keenan, solid as a rock in Farrell’s Ireland thinking but under huge pressure now from Blair Kinghorn.

Despite his Lions contract the coach will be all over the make-up of the Ireland side against Georgia and Portugal. That Tbilisi Test will be an accelerated learning zone for Jack Boyle at loose head, who at least finished the Six Nations with another bit of game time under his belt. He should have been involved in every game.

For example when Farrell is taking Ireland to Chicago to face New Zealand, to kick off the November programme, he will need Boyle to be up to speed. By then loose head Paddy McCarthy should have made his debut and hooker Gus McCarthy will be a bit further down the track. The most pressing position to fill behind the scrum is at nine where Ben Murphy’s impressive progress has been halted by injury, and where Fintan Gunne needs exposure, quickly.

The policy of remaining loyal to the senior players for so long adds a degree of hurry-up to the replacement process now for Ireland. The challenge is not to fall off the edge of the cliff while that is underway. Post Rome however it will be hard to struggle with the change in mood. A full-on contribution from Ireland’s Lions in Australia would be a good start.