However, he does not believe the sabbatical has played a part in the team’s performances this month, with Friday’s second-half display raising further concerns about the side’s form.
Ireland are back in the top two of the world rankings after their three-point win over Argentina and New Zealand’s narrow defeat to France in Paris, but they were made to work for their win by an Argentina team who kept them scoreless for 47 minutes but couldn’t get over the line in a 22-19 defeat.
Farrell has two more matches against Fiji and the Lions’ opponents Australia before he hands his team over to Simon Easterby for the Six Nations and the as-yet unconfirmed summer tour which is likely to feature matches against Portugal, Romania and Georgia.
“That’s always part of my thinking,” he said when asked about leaving Ireland in as strong a place as possible at the end of this four-game series.
“Honestly, I try to make sure that there’s no distractions and there hasn’t been. It’s full steam ahead for me. This is a great window for us to improve as a group going forward.”
Farrell kept faith with 14 of the starting XV who performed so poorly in defeat against New Zealand a week previously and, while there were elements of the performance that left him cold, he was pleased with the response.
“Most responded. There’s quite a few of them that were disappointed with last week’s performance and I think as a whole we started the game, our first half was pretty good given the opposition so the individuals were obviously up for that,” he said.
“I thought the subs did a fantastic job.”
In the first four years of his tenure, Farrell invested a huge amount of energy into building his side’s mental strength with the help of performance coach Gary Keegan and by the time they got to the 2023 World Cup they were able to handle all sorts of adversity, while they’d also developed a capacity to bounce back quickly from moments that didn’t go their way.
That skill has not been in evidence in recent matches and it’s been noticeable that they’ve gone through long lulls within games, making repeat errors and conceding back-to-back silly penalties that hand the opposition momentum.
Farrell agrees that their standards have slipped in this department but says they are working on rebuilding that strength behind the scenes.
And he says the last two weeks will stand to Caelan Doris as he adjusts to his role as captain.
“When you get good at something you need to keep cultivating it to keep it ticking along,” he said.
“I think the dangerous thing in life in general is when you think you’ve got something; that’s dangerous ground. We need to keep addressing that.
“It’s big for Caelan. It’s big being captain of the side.
“Even subconsciously, not that it’s said, I probably put more pressure on him because of last week of the team’s performance. I’m sure he takes a bit of extra responsibility for that. He’s very good at taking on a challenge and relishing that challenge.
“He’s as good as anyone at dealing at stuff that’s not going well and making good sure of it. It’s all good learning steps for us.”
Having handed Thomas Clarkson and Sam Prendergast their debuts last Friday, Farrell challenged the pair to go on and make an Ireland career for themselves.
“You see the characters throughout training and you know they’re ready for that type of occasion and pressured occasion,” he said of the new pair.
“I said to them in the changing room then that they came in well prepared because of the form they’ve shown this season. It’s not about one cap is it? It’s what you do with that one cap and how hungry you are to kick on now to gain on that experience.”