Irreconcilable breakdown for Ireland

One banner said it all: Argentina existe . Ireland, alas, no longer exist in the 2007 Coupe du Monde, going out in the pool stages for the first time ever.

Yesterday's utterly predictable 30-15 defeat to a far more inspired, confident, stronger and better-coached if not necessarily more talented team confirmed as much. And this despite the "golden generation".

At least in five previous World Cup "failures" - which may be a bit harsh on the 1991 effort - Irish rugby supporters could console themselves with the thought that, well, Ireland just weren't good enough. There is no such consolation now, only widespread anger at how so much has been squandered.

Here again, after another adrenalin-fuelled start, Irish players were repeatedly bullied at the collisions and mauled off the park. Yet coach Eddie O'Sullivan maintained, "I'm very happy with the fitness. We've made great strides in our fitness but every other country has improved as well. We're by no means the biggest and the strongest team here but we're bigger and stronger than we used to be."

But this was after four 10-week pre-seasons and another double trip to the ice chambers in Poland. It doesn't remotely stack up.

Some will take minor solace in there being more urgency in this performance, and Paul O'Connell, despite a costly missed lineout early on, certainly upped his physical aggression. But given their World Cup lives were on the line, this is clutching at straws.

The Pumas, true to type, murdered Ireland at the breakdown, where they forced at least 10 turnovers.

Chasing a fanciful four-try win, this Irish team looked utterly perplexed as to what they were doing. They often ran or counterattacked when they should not have done or lacked the numbers, and they kicked too long and badly. Geordan Murphy added a bit more variation from the patterned, pedantic, percentage rugby Ireland have been playing, but their kicking game, such as it is, at this World Cup has been atrocious. At times, truly, they looked embarrassed with the ball.

The only shafts of light were when Ireland went wide to Brian O'Driscoll off flat passes by Ronan O'Gara - a fleeting reminder of what these players used to be able to do - for two well-worked set-piece tries off lineout ball.

The river of bad blood between these sides was apparent from early jostling and sledging, notably the Irish captain's verbal blast at any Puma within sight or earshot after his 32nd-minute try had enabled Ireland to lead for the only time - and for all of four minutes. But the last laughs were all Argentinian, and the crying was Irish.

But these two shafts of light were actually at odds with the preordained battering-ram tactics up the middle. Argentina, clearer in thought and deed, may have kicked long in a spoiling tactic as the Irish coach observed, but when it became footloose and fancy free, their skills were also way better.

They had the game's class controlling acts in Agustin Pichot and Juan Hernández, and they looked much the more dangerous side over the 80 minutes. They also defended much more ferociously and purposefully, and while it's easier when you're winning and playing better, they look what they are - a far happier, more spirited camp.

This has permeated through to their outnumbered but colourful and, by the end, much noisier fans, the green army - living proof that hope springs eternal among Irish sports fans - having again been reduced to silence as the blue-and-white thousands chanted and danced in unison, and finally with their players.

This team, for Ireland are the only team out of 20 who cannot claim to have utilised a squad system, have fallen way below what they are capable of. The coach again couldn't "put a finger" on why this was so, other than offering the risible observation, "Looking at it from the tournament point of view, we have struggled to find our form. We look like a team who needed more rugby.

"We didn't play the rugby we're capable of because we were off the pace in trying to play that rugby."

And, in what will surely make for ominous reading for most Irish rugby supporters out there, O'Sullivan vowed to plough on: "I'm totally committed to this job. It's been a tough World Cup and things haven't gone to plan. But I've never walked away from a challenge and I don't intend to start now."

But yesterday's latest debacle, the fourth in a row, was blindingly predictable. At least Wales went out scoring five tries, some of them pearlers, in the game of the tournament, but it didn't stop them taking swift action against Gareth Jenkins.

Undoubtedly, some of the blame has to be attached to the team leaders and marquee names who barely perform to par, much less optimum level. Even O'Driscoll, while good by everyone else's standards in this Irish effort, was relatively poor by his.

But this was an astonishing failure of coaching and selection, and the fault lines start at the very top, with the decision of the appointments committee - Neilly Jackson, Noel Murphy and Pa Whelan - to award O'Sullivan a four-year extension to an over-rated six-year tenure, which was ratified by the IRFU chief executive, Philip Browne, the director of rugby, Eddie Wigglesworth, and John Hussey. And the faults were also in the way one man, O'Sullivan, was given such unfettered power.

In the short term, what's left of this generation of players and the next crop coming up clearly need a completely fresh direction, and in the longer term the union needs to completely review a structure that yields a 27-year-old back-up outhalf who again remained idle on the bench even though the incumbent outhalf, O'Gara, was again clearly off colour, especially in his kicking game.

A thorough review of the last four years, with players interviewed individually and in confidence, might yield some surprising answers if there was anyone with authority, vision or leadership in the IRFU.

The IRFU have been living in a fool's paradise, basking in the glow of Triple Crowns that have been put in perspective by the results of Wales, Scotland and England, as well as Ireland, at this World Cup - the Test game's last true level playing field. Hence they will apparently not be taking any dramatic action.

No one is suggesting they inform the coach at 1am in a car park, but dramatic action is clearly what's needed.