Ronan O'Gara believes Ireland can marry the best of both worlds on their summer tour of New Zealand.
Andy Farrell's side face the All Blacks in a three-Test series in July, on what will be their first visit to New Zealand since 2012.
The Irish head coach used 32 different players over the course of the Guinness Six Nations championship, with Mack Hansen and Mike Lowry making their debuts, with hooker Dan Sheehan establishing himself as a regular in the starting team.
And with the tour falling just over a year out from the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, it's expected to be a crucial tool in Ireland's development, with many people calling for Farrell to use the games to get experience into some of his younger players.
But with the IRFU also looking to arrange two further midweek fixtures, Farrell will likely have scope to bring an expanded squad with him, which O'Gara says will allow him develop the wider group, while also protecting the short term goals.
"For me they both work hand in hand," said O'Gara, at the launch of this year's Aviva Mini Rugby Festivals
"This is top, top level sport. It's ruthless. You want to set your players up to succeed. It’ll be a hard environment in the middle of winter, on a winter surface in New Zealand. It’ll be different rugby to what we’ll see in the next two or three months with firm pitches.
"You’re going into the middle of winter, they’ll be hostile environments but passionate fans. It’s a fantastic test as a rugby player.
"For me it smacks of a massive opportunity. At the same time, you look throughout the Six Nations campaign, and a lot of different players were used, but none of them are unproven, so it’s deadly competitive to get into the Irish team, let alone the squad.
"You’ll have a Test group, and then there is talk of playing another two games, so you’ll have an extended group. It’s in the training you get to see the real character of the individual, and that’s hugely informative to a head coach."
The La Rochelle director of rugby believes the added depth at hooker has been Ireland's greatest takeaway from the tournament, with Dan Sheehan (above) seamlessly filling in for Rónan Kelleher who picked up an injury in Paris.
And while O'Gara also believes Ireland have significant depth at second and back row, he namechecked one former team-mate as someone who was key in the second half of the tournament.
"There’s been a nice fightback from Conor Murray in the last two games which is important because he probably wasn’t far away from potentially getting squeezed out of the squad. He’s reacted well".
Joey Carbery also emerged from the Six Nations as the clear backup to captain Johnny Sexton at out-half, getting two starts in the championship, with one being the defeat to France in Paris, in which the Munster man was arguably Ireland's best player.
"I can clearly visualise the fear, dread and disillusionment of top class club players at the thought of going to French camp. It blew me away."
Connacht's Jack Carty, however, only earned one short substitute appearance, also against France, and O'Gara says he may end up paying for Connacht's frustrating inconsistency.
"He came on and had an opportunity [against France], remember Ireland had a chance to win the game. It was Jack Carty's pass from right to left that went forward and Dan Sheehan knocked it on but it was a difficult pass to handle. But these are the moments that we're talking about.
"But also, my abiding memory of the Six Nations is that Jack Carty was out-half for Connacht that went to Edinburgh and the score was 56-8.
"So I think we have to be consistent in our analysis guys in the fact that you can’t knock on the door, knock on the door, knock on the door and then come up with a performance like that and go, 'Well that didn’t happen', because the staff and coaches look at that, and that rocks everything about your environment, about your culture, about what you stand for.
"So I think it’s a very, very harsh message but every game counts. Especially when you’re not the incumbent, every game counts.
"The out-half is the driver in the team and this isn’t harsh against Jack, I’m just trying to give you guys a picture of what’s involved in selecting a potential Test out-half. It’s an all-encompassing position with so many layers and strands associated with the job and the task at hand. You can’t just pretend that Connacht-Edinburgh game didn’t happen," he added.
While he believes Ireland are in a very good position 18 months out from the World Cup, he's says there is no argument that France are the best in the world as things stand, with scrum-half Antoine Dupont "in a league of his own".
France's turnaround in recent years has been remarkable, having seemingly bottomed out in 2018 and 2019, before Fabien Galthie's revolution has seen them win a first Six Nations Grand Slam in 12 years last Saturday.
O'Gara, who has spent much of the last decade living and coaching in France, says he's never seen the French public so invested in the national team, which he says is down to the better relationships between the union and the Top 14 clubs in recent seasons, something far removed from his early days with Racing 92 in Paris.
"I can clearly visualise the fear, dread and disillusionment of top class club players at the thought of going to French camp. It blew me away.
"As an ex-international who got everything out of a green jersey, and the best of memories and the best of camaraderie, you go as a young coach, and think 'What's wrong here?’
"I think there is an added benefit for these guys because prior to the Galthie reign it was a disjointed camp, and a disjointed setup.
"They like a good fight in France and there was no correlation between the FFR and the LNR. It went from one extreme to the other.
"Now, getting to French camp is sought after, I can see that. We had seven players involved which is unheard of for Stade Rochelais, but underneath that there are another five or six who are frustrated and would love the opportunity to even go to camp.
"It’s the same as anything, when you have a winning model, it grows."
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