After masterminding victory over New Zealand, Joe Schmidt has now switched his attention to helping Ireland retain the Six Nations title.
The historic 16-9 victory against the All Blacks last weekend is still on the minds of most but the Ireland boss is already looking ahead to February.
His side host England at the Aviva Stadium, as they start their defence of the title they claimed with a Grand Slam in March. If they are successful they will have taken home the trophy in four of the last six years.
“It’s all about defending our Six Nations title, if we could do that it would be a phenomenal run,” Schmidt told RTE.
“It would be a little bit of history for us to have accumulated four wins in the space of six years.
“That’s going to be incredibly difficult to do because we have this great big target on our forehead now.
“And then obviously the World Cup, I’m incredibly invested in that. None of that is going to change regardless of whatever decision gets made.”
Schmidt is set to make an announcement on his long term future next week.
This weekend his side face off against the USA in their final Test of the autumn, with 14 changes to the side that beat the All Blacks.
He added: “I’ll talk to [IRFU performance director] David Nucifora over the next three or four days post the game and try to nut out exactly what the decision is and where we go from there.
“Yeah, look it’s a decision that will probably not be finalised until Sunday really but it’s a decision that’s been a long time coming.
“The family I have probably committed most to is this family that I live with in Carton House [the Ireland training camp] as much as it is the family I have at home. So we’ve put our heads together and tried to reconcile how we can best maybe cater for both.
“I think certainly early next week [the decision will be announced].
“I’d like to be able to take a deep breath on Sunday and then…I know I can’t continue to just go backwards and forwards because to be honest I’ve beaten myself up enough about this decision.”
