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PARIS - Irish rugby coach Eddie O'Sullivan insisted on Sunday he would not walk away from his job despite a desperately disappointing World Cup campaign which saw the Irish exit after a 30-15 defeat by Argentina.
O'Sullivan, who was offered a new four-year contract before the tournament, said he had never walked away from a challenge, despite the fact he now faces rebuilding the team for the 2011 World Cup with players who are already in their late 20s or early 30s.
"I am totally committed to this job," said O'Sullivan, who has guided the Irish to three Triple Crowns since he assumed the reins in 2001.
"I have the appetite, it has been a tough World Cup but things have not gone to plan.
"I have never walked away from a challenge before and I won't walk away from this one."
O'Sullivan, who has reportedly fallen out with several senior players, admitted it was too soon to define what exactly went wrong just months after they came desperately close to winning the Six Nations Grand Slam.
"I can't say exactly but we never got to play like the form that came out of the autumn tests (they beat South Africa and Australia last November) and the Six Nations," said O'Sullivan, who had been tipped to lead the British and Irish Lions tour in 2009.
"There is a balance between the confidence when we play like that and then the draining of confidence when we fail as we try to play that type of rugby.
"We will, as we always do, review what went badly and what went well. Maybe we will come up with some answers to that. But there is some soul-searching to be done."
O'Sullivan, who was assistant coach when Ireland lost to Argentina in the 1999 World Cup quarter-final play-off, highlighted where the basis for the failure to stamp their mark on the tournament had been.
"Our scrum has been a big weakness against Georgia, France and Argentina. The lineout has also been under greater pressure than normal," he said.
"Based on those two areas we did struggle to get our game plan working.
"The lineout is normally a launchpad for us to get the backs going but that wasn't happening.
"I suppose we did a lot to try and force the game, we forced the ball in the first two matches and this one.
"I will look back on it, but it is hard enough to make an assessment less than an hour after the final whistle."
However, O'Sullivan insisted that he still believed in his team.
"If you think back less than six months they were playing great rugby, they don't become bad players," said the coach.
"We created a lot of expectations based on the back of some great performances and we haven't lived up to them. They are great players. But we have always prided ourselves on our performances and we have come up short."
For Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll it was one of the lowest moments of a great career.
"I feel very low to be knocked out of the World Cup, it is the second time (not making the last eight) I have felt this and by Argentina as well," said O'Driscoll, who will be 32 when the next tournament comes round.
"We're taking the worst of the three options available to us at the outset of the tournament by going home. If you don't perform you don't get the rewards."
However, O'Driscoll insisted that the players had to carry their share of the blame.
"A lot of the onus has to go on the players, there is only so much that coaching can do," said the skipper.
"It was up to the XV that started the matches, and we didn't front up. I think we will go back and be disappointed with our individual performances."
Argentina topped pool D and will take on Scotland in the last eight while France, who were second in the pool, will face the All Blacks.
"We have a lot of respect for Scotland," said Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda.
- AFP
