Gerry Thornley: Life after Joe Schmidt - it's a very unnerving thought

So it begins then, the long goodbye. And it's not just Joe Schmidt, who is coming into his sixth and last Six Nations as Ireland's head coach.

Ditto Warren Gatland, for whom this will be a remarkable 12th and last as Wales head coach, which thus makes it his 16th championship in total when taking into account his four with Ireland.

Such is the way of modern day Test rugby with its World Cup cycles. Nor would it be a surprise if one or more of the other four coaches are no longer in situ come the 2020 edition either.

Even Eddie Jones and Conor O'Shea are embarking upon their fourth and third Six Nations as head coaches of England and Italy, and while O'Shea never had to be sold on the old championship after playing in six of them, Jones revealed a newfound respect for the Six Nations at last Wednesday's launch.

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I love the championship because of just how tight it is, how every game is going to be such a contest. And the crowds

After the Grand Slam of 2016 and England’s title retention a year later, perhaps finishing fifth last year helped to engender that new-found respect, and also rather softened Jones’ cough at the launch.

It was England’s worst Six Nations performance.

But therein lies the rub. A good team will again finish at least as low as fifth, and that’s without Italy taking a scalp or two.

Since the Azzurri finished fifth and demoted Scotland to sixth place four seasons ago, France, Wales and last season England, have finished second last.

Hence, Schmidt is surely not alone in developing mixed feelings about the Six Nations.

“I love the championship because of just how tight it is, how every game is going to be such a contest. And the crowds. I think people get incredibly engaged during the games. It’s all-consuming, and I think that’s brilliant. Then I kind of have this love-hate relationship with it.

"Sometimes I'm on the bus driving to the ground, on the way to the Aviva you go past this hotel just before you get to the ground," he said, presumably in reference to the crowds spilling onto the front of the Lansdowne Hotel on Pembroke Road or what is now the Ballsbridge Hotel.

“All these people are really enjoying themselves, and I’m on the bus thinking ‘I just hope it doesn’t go badly’. I almost feel like saying to the bus driver, ‘let me off so I can go and have a pint with these people’, and have as much fun as they do.

“But at the same time I’m incredibly privileged to have been as close to a group of men who work as hard as they do. It’s been an incredible privilege and I will miss that. I will miss the moments in the changing room seeing the players, and what they put in.”

Schmidt knows full well that in addition to work, a team needs luck, witness the tiny margins which accompanied Ireland’s titles in 2014 and 2015, and went against them the following year especially.

But no less than in 2009, it is a Grand Slam winning campaign such as last year’s which serves to underline the fine lines in this increasingly volatile and unpredictable tournament.

Momentum, momentum, momentum.

We all still vividly recall how that 41-phase, 83rd minute, 45 metre drop goal by Johnny Sexton on the opening weekend in Paris provided the launching pad for the remainder of the competition, but also saved Ireland's bacon.

Not alone would there have been no Slam without it, but how differently might Ireland’s campaign have panned out otherwise?

Even then the Welsh game came down to the last play and Jacob Stockdale’s intercept try. And as Schmidt recalled this week, the 28-8 scoreline over the Scots was very misleading given Gregor Townsend’s inventive side left three try-scoring chances behind.

I think we were very frustrated early in the championship that we built leads and conceded tries

That game was, according to Schmidt, the best example of how no Six Nations campaign is ever perfect.

"I thought Scotland opened us up a few times. We scored off an intercept try, which was Jacob, and he poached those balls really well. But he put himself in good positions and we had seen the week before, with a couple of their wide passes, particularly the one that Huw Jones took and they opened England up and scored a phenomenal try, that those opportunities might come from them throwing those wide passes, and Jacob finished that really well.

“But at the same time, that was a one score game with a 20 point margin. I think that’s probably the most referenced one for me. They [Scotland] were every bit as good on the day. We just capitalised on our opportunities, whereas they didn’t,” added Schmidt, also citing how the Scots failed to convert a routine two-on-one after Jones gathered his own chip ahead.

"Stuart Hogg is the support player and we've got no-one in front of them. That was a pass that didn't quite go to hand and we got let off the hook by them, not by us doing anything particularly well."

The imperfections in Ireland’s campaign didn’t stop there.

“I think we were very frustrated early in the championship that we built leads and conceded tries. Even in France, in the 72nd minute we’re still in control of the game. We actually had a kick to go 15-6 up, and you don’t need the dramatics at the end, although I wouldn’t change that now.

"Now that you can look back you wouldn't change it because the dramatics were so positive for us, and uplifting, and gave us a real springboard to go through the championship with. But when Teddy Thomas scored from a nothing situation a little bit, that's the freakish athletic talent that he is.

“It was the same in the Wales game. We were up 27-13 well into the second half, and suddenly then its 30-27 with a few minutes to go. Even the Italy game, conceding three tries in the last 20 minutes, so for us, there were imperfections and there were frustrations, and you’ve got to keep trying to find solutions for those, while at the same time maintain the good things that are happening, because to be in those situations and still get the win, you’re obviously doing some of the things right.”

No doubt there’s a part of Schmidt that slightly resents the Six Nations being viewed in the prism of a World Cup, inevitable though that may be in a World Cup year.

His is already the most successful reign of any Ireland coach but a fourth title in six years would be some finale to this competition.

Besides which, as he puts it: “You don’t think too much about a World Cup because I think the danger is you can damage a World Cup, your confidence, your expectation, your momentum, just because you look too far ahead and don’t give due respect to what is one of the biggest teams in world rugby.

He understands the game so well. We talk a lot about what we're doing, in strategy and the leadership group, and then present that to the players

“You are just opening yourself up for an opportunity for them to take advantage of you.”

Next year, Life After Joe will begin. It is an unnerving thought. Andy Farrell will be Ireland's head coach (and Wayne Pivac will also be facing into his first Six Nations with Wales).

But part of Schmidt’s contentment at the prospect of stepping down is his utter belief that Team Ireland will be in safe hands.

“Andy’s a very smart coach and we always knew even when he was with England how much pressure they would put on us. He understands the game so well. We talk a lot about what we’re doing, in strategy and the leadership group, and then present that to the players. And Andy’s been part of that for years now.

"So has Simon Easterby, he's been in amongst that group and has done a fantastic job, as do Greg Feek and Richie Murphy. I think he [Farrell] will have a really strong crew to start with. I think he'll be in a really strong position. Andy with the experience he has had, as an assistant and as head coach at Saracens, he understands the game and was a fantastic player."

Facing into his third Six Nations as one of Schmidt’s assistant coaches, after four with England, Farrell has had a particularly low profile in his time with Ireland, and that is 100 per cent sure to be the case next week of all weeks, when Farrell senior will be plotting the defensive system to negate England and their chief playmaker, his son Owen.

Farrell will captain England and bring the same uber-competitiveness and northern grit to the equation as his dad, while along the way he'll also bat away any questions of a familial nature.

Asked if he’d spoken much with his dad lately, Farrell junior, who clearly puts on something of a mask in front of the media, said: “Not too much, we’ve both got jobs to focus on and that’s pretty much it.”

Schmidt, in touch with his feminine side, had a different take on this week’s familial rivalry.

“It’s tough for Colleen, she’s got Andy on one side, and Owen on the other,” said the Ireland head coach, whereas for her husband and son, it’s clear-cut.

“Andy, his loyalty is to us. He won’t be any different when we’re playing England or if we’re playing France, or Wales. He’s just incredibly well-prepared. He’s incredibly professional.”

That’s for sure, even if this week he’ll need to be so more than any other.