After a mixed start to his first game as head coach of Ireland's rugby team, the nature of the challenge facing Andy Farrell will have become fully apparent to Joe Schmidt's former assistant, suggested former Irish international Shane Horgan on Monday's OTB AM. 

A Six Nations clash with Scotland that was considered a relatively soft opening to Andy Farrell's era as head coach of Ireland's national team, the hosts were forced to grind out a 19-12 victory in Dublin on Saturday evening.

"Largely, it was a pretty underwhelming start," suggested former Irish international Shane Horgan on Monday's OTB AM. "We didn't see much change from what we've seen up to this point with Andy under Joe Schmidt, especially in the last year.

"There was an expectation, a lot of messaging going on since Andy has taken over the role of change and moving the game-plan on.

"That's always going to take time, but we didn't see a whole lot of it on Saturday."

Head coach Andy Farrell prior to the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and Scotland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

In line with Andy Farrell's links to the previous head coach Joe Schmidt, Horgan expects that the mild swell of negativity surrounding the English coach's first outing is largely a result of the similar conservatism shown.

"There wasn't a huge number of changes in selection," he pointed out, "so it just felt a little bit more of the same when people were looking for more.

"I think we've just got to see progress and whether that be in terms of selection or a couple of other key elements of the game.

"I didn't see much change in the defensive system either and I was surprised because I always got the impression from Andy Farrell that he was a little bit restricted by Schmidt's system, but we saw his first attempt on Saturday and I was a bit underwhelmed.

Citing the immediate influence of Shaun Edwards on France's performances after they overcame England on Sunday afternoon as evidence of how Ireland could have improved in Farrell's short time in charge, Horgan argued that the circumstances within which Farrell is working have altered quite rapidly and, despite Saturday's shortcomings, he deserves time.

"Andy Farrell was appointed as a continuity coach," he noted, "to bring along Joe Schmidt's legacy and in some ways, he's had to pivot out of that quite quickly because of what's happened in the last 12 months.

"The position the IRFU have put him in with their report, which hung a lot of the blame for what went wrong at the World Cup around Joe Schmidt's neck, Andy Farrell was part of that but all of a sudden he had to move away from it.

"It's maybe a little bit early, however, to be out with pitchforks after one game and a few training sessions.

You can watch Shane Horgan's assessment of Saturday's game on OTB AM back here. Furthermore, watch Alan Quinlan discuss the game back here. 

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