Former Ospreys head coach Sean Holley is excited by Andy Farrell's Ireland and a big admirer of the team’s new style of play.
Wales are first up for Ireland as the Guinness Six Nations gets under way on Saturday afternoon (2.15pm).
Holley, who led Ospreys to win five major trophies, including the famous Pro12 victory over Leinster at the RDS in 2010, told the RTÉ Rugby podcast: "Andy Farrell] is more of a man-manager than the likes of Joe Schmidt.
"He sort of gets it, he gets the lads a little bit. He’s a great bloke and they will respond to that.
"Their speed of ball, their first guys arriving to the ruck are so quick and destructive that it creates such quick platform for [Jamison] Gibson-Park and co.
"If you look at Caelan Doris’s try against the All Blacks. It enables the Irish forwards to win the race around the corner. That’s all that happened in that one.
"The clear-out from James Ryan just prior to that try was fantastic.
"If you can bottle that up as a coach and inject it into your players, then you’ll be a World Cup-winning coach.
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"I see it with Leinster, you just cannot regenerate your defence. The speed of ball, away from the ruck, they’re into position, people like Doris, [Josh] van der Flier and Jack Conan coming at you, you never get time to reload and reset.
"That’s been the fundamental difference."
The former Wales defence coach added that Ireland’s strength in depth has improved.
"It seems to me that there is genuine competition for places," he added.
"He’s not afraid to pick a Mack Hansen, he’s not afraid to say Iain Henderson hasn’t had quite enough game time, Tadhg Beirne is immense anyway.
"I’m not so sure Ireland have been in this sort of gold position [before], and they are ready to rock.
"I’m really excited to see them, they could win this game quite comfortably and make seven or eight changes for the next game and be stronger."
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow all of Ireland's Six Nations games via our live blogs on rte.ie/sport and on the RTÉ News App or listen to live radio coverage on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch live TV coverage of Ireland v Wales (5 February, 2.15pm) and England v Ireland (12 March, 4.45pm) on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player.
