Farrell's absence, World Cup and Lions to come in exciting 2025

And just like that, another year is in the books.

For Irish rugby, 2024 produced no shortage of highlights. For the men's team, another Six Nations title was claimed, although the elation was tinged with regret after missing out on the Grand Slam.

The summer stirred even more mixed emotions, losing to world champions South Africa before a stunning, Ciaran Frawley-inspired win in Durban.

Three wins from four was a satisfactory return in the Autumn Nations Series, but losing to the All Blacks in the headline fixture only served to deepen Irish wounds from the 2023 World Cup.

As for the women's side, significant strides were made in their first full year under head coach Scott Bemand with World Cup qualification and a memorable win over world champions New Zealand to show for their efforts.

For Irish rugby as a whole, the next 12 months promise to be exciting but uncertain. Here is a look-ahead to a busy year in 2025.

This time last year, Ireland were bracing themselves for the first game of the post-Johnny Sexton era.

This year finds them planning another Six Nations title defence, only without the man who has masterminded their journey back to the summit of the competition.

With head coach Andy Farrell having been seconded to the British and Irish Lions before he leads next summer's tour to Australia, he will be absent from Ireland's coaches box for the first time since the 2016 Six Nations.

In his stead, Simon Easterby will oversee Ireland's Six Nations campaign and summer matches against Georgia, Romania and Portugal.

Part of the Irish backroom team since 2014, Easterby has undoubtedly served his apprenticeship, and while he has the chance to lead Ireland to their first ever Six Nations hat-trick, there are some issues for him to address.

Firstly, Easterby must back a fly-half. While Jack Crowley occupied the 10 jersey for most of 2024, the emergence of Sam Prendergast - who started the last two autumn games - has complicated the picture.

Beyond that, the hope is that the Six Nations will see Ireland return to being the free-flowing juggernaut associated with Farrell's tenure. Results, as a whole, remained positive in 2024, but their autumn performances failed to inspire.

With England travelling to Dublin on the opening weekend of the Six Nations, Easterby has no time to spare as he prepares to take on the most intense challenge of his coaching career.

With Farrell now wearing his Lions hat, he will be keeping a close eye on the sizeable chunk of the Ireland squad for whom making the tour to Australia is a realistic ambition.

Some of Ireland's most consistent performers in the Farrell era are highly likely to be making their Lions debuts. Scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park is a contender for the nine jersey, Andrew Porter - who missed the 2021 tour because of injury - has a reasonable claim for the loosehead prop role while Caelan Doris has been talked about as a potential skipper after leading Ireland through November's autumn campaign.

Tadhg Beirne, Dan Sheehan, Josh van der Flier and Hugo Keenan are others whose omission would come as a real shock.

Then are those who will hope to create headaches for Farrell, with the Six Nations crucial in determining whether Crowley or Prendergast are ready for a Lions tour.

James Ryan, who was overlooked by Warren Gatland in 2021, will be desperate for a call-up while the likes of Ryan Baird, Joe McCarthy and Ciaran Frawley will hope to launch themselves into contention during the Six Nations.

Sadly for Craig Casey, however, his chances of impressing Farrell before the tour have been hampered by the knee injury that will keep him out for approximately four months.

While the men's team must wait nearly three years before a shot at World Cup redemption, the women's side will be back in the big time in this year's tournament.

Having failed to qualify for the 2021 edition in New Zealand, Ireland will be desperate for a strong showing in England as they look to build on a promising 2024, the highlight of which was a seismic WXV1 victory over New Zealand.

The Black Ferns are in Ireland's World Cup group along with Japan and Spain but Bemand's side have reason to be confident having also beaten Australia and the USA in their most recent run of games.

In addition to a strong core of experienced players, Bemand can now call upon one of the rising stars of women's rugby in Erin King. Having starred for the Ireland Sevens at the Olympics, the Australia-born flanker stole the headlines with two tries off the bench in the win over New Zealand before a player-of-the-match display against the USA.

It led to the 21-year-old being named World Rugby's breakthrough player of the year, with Aoife Wafer, Linda Djougang, Dorothy Wall and Neve Jones also enjoying strong years for Bemand's side.

The 2025 Six Nations will be a critical step in Ireland's pre-World Cup development. Ireland beat Scotland and Wales in the 2024 championship, and while claiming the scalp of England may be too big an ask, a home win over France would be a serious momentum booster ahead of the World Cup.