Alan Quinlan has hailed Andy Farrell as the man to succeed Joe Schmidt after the New Zealander announced he would step away from coaching after the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. 

Speaking to Ger on Monday's #otbam shortly after confirmation of Schmidt's decision, Quinlan said: "We knew it was coming. It's understandable - it's a relentless, kind of, pressure and there's a lot of work that goes in to it and he's done a remarkable job.

"By his own admission, he's a workaholic. We hear that a lot about the players and that quote, 'attention to detail', all the time - he just leaves no stone unturned and that's his nature.

"Yeah so he's going to get a break now and I think the big goal for him, it's still 11 months to the World Cup so it'll be to keep the players at that high standard and try and keep the team winning. The drive and desire won't change.

"I think it's a disappointing scenario but you can never replace someone like him but I think Andy Farrell is someone who has been in the system for the last couple of years with Joe Schmidt.

"He'll have learned a lot - he rebounded from the disappointment with England and he knows the inside track now of all these players, what makes them tick, how the game works and how they work here so I'd be very comfortable and very pleased with his decision to have that succession plan.

"It's good business from the IRFU and look, there was a ready-made coach there to takeover - it just depends whose going with him and who'll come in to assist," he added. 

Listen back to Monday's OTB AM podcast here: