Ireland boss Andy Farrell intends to embrace the hype surrounding the first of four meetings with Joe Schmidt’s Australia and insists his upcoming stint with the British and Irish Lions is not a “distraction”.

There's a strong argument that, with half of their fixtures in this window completed, Andy Farrell's team have sat their sternest exams - and that's with

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell is relishing facing his former mentor Joe Schmidt when they host the Wallabies at the Aviva Stadium this weekend.