November Ireland reared its ugly head against Wales on Saturday.
For a long spell in the middle of the 27-18 win, one couldn't but be reminded of Ireland's Autumn Nation Series labours.
Passes weren't sticking, kicks went astray, mistakes abounded. They were disjointed in defence and it wasn't immediately apparent why.
Whereas in November, the lineout malfunctioned, on Saturday it was the scrum that was causing problems; four first-half penalties conceded allowing Wales to exit far too easily.
Yes, Wales were good, very good, but, like the loss to New Zealand and the unconvincing wins over Argentina and Australia, the Six Nations champions didn't look themselves.
The team that won a Grand Slam, beat the world champions three times in the last four years and hammered France in Marseille were nowhere to be seen.
This time, however, Ireland dug themselves out of a hole and secured four precious points but on some level it felt like a moral defeat.
Yes, there are positives to be taken from it but it was noticeable that Simon Easterby didn't hang around long on those in his first answer in the post-match press conference.
"They'll be going, 'okay, we got the job done but that's just not good enough to go on and win this championship'."
Wales had more possession (57%) and territory (51%), and they didn't kick away the ball needlessly, reckoning the less opportunity Ireland's talented backs had, the better for them.
Matt Sherratt's side also made more metres, 770 to 503, with the ball in hand and had seven linebreaks to Ireland's two.
The new defence set-up at Leinster and, by extension, Ireland, means a certain number of missed tackles are baked in but that only works when everyone is on the same page.
Still, 32 is way too many, even if they were a man down for a time. It seemed every time Wales moved it wide they had an extra man.
"The way [Wales] played with width, they got to the edge so often, the short runners, lots of options, very much the way Ireland play," added Ferris.
"Ireland brought a bit of linespeed but kept getting sucked in by those short runners. You just don't see Ireland defend like that.
"It felt like Ireland were drifting at times, up hard at times. Josh van der Flier was flying out of the line when someone else was sitting back."
The scrum was under severe pressure in the first half especially and Easterby reckons Tadhg Furlong and Rónan Kelleher are on track to face France, who hammered Italy 73-24 yesterday, on Saturday week.
"We expect them to back with us next week and we're hoping that they'll come through," he said.
Towards the end of the loss to the All Blacks they didn't look like they believed they could pull it back, and the final whistle saved them against Los Pumas.
On Saturday, trailing 18-10 and with Wales threatening to spoil Triple Crown and Grand Slam hopes, calm heads prevailed in an incredibly tense atmosphere in the Principality Stadium.
"In rugby and in professional sport in general, especially when you're playing away from home, there’s a lot of chaos going on outside," said flanker Josh van der Flier.
"But I suppose inside your mind internally you need to be fairly calm and among the team it needs to be quite relaxed and calm but obviously on the outside it's absolute chaos, it's noisy, it’s a lot of things happening.
"So very pleased with how the lads dealt with it all today because it was a messy day."
With two enforced changes, the five additional switches seemed excessive, the introduction of so many variables was a gamble for Easterby.
But, by the only metric that counts, the scoreboard, it's a gamble that paid off, albeit that might be revisited should points difference or the lack of a bonus point come into play in the final round.
Still, Jamie Osborne got a Six Nations bow, Jack Boyle a first cap, and Thomas Clarkson started for the first time; they came out the other side with the job done.
Winning with those boxes ticked off pleased the boss.
"That's always been part of this group's mentality, that we try and build continuity in selection but also build experiences," he said.
"We got that today. There's a lot of guys who never would have played in an atmosphere like that.
"In terms of the way the game unfolded and the way we were able to battle through some difficult situations, that will be really pleasing for us as a team.
"The guys that came off the bench and were able to impact that game, some of the younger players will benefit massively from that experience."
The manner of Les Bleus' 11-try win in Rome will serve to focus the Irish minds ahead of the next game but they already knew there was work to be done.
"They can play the game in many ways," said Easterby.
"They can deliver up front and they've got backs that can light up any game. They're going to be a real challenge. It's exciting that we get a chance after two away games to go home and play in the Aviva.
"I think we're really looking forward to that and I'd say it will be a cracking atmosphere.
"They will be challenging, of course they will.
"We'll feel like we've had a couple of good wins against them recently but we also know they've got great strengths and we need to get better ourselves."
