Gatland decision in next fortnight

With the focus of attention now switching to 62 Lansdowne Road, the fate of Warren Gatland and the Irish management team will be assessed and decided by the IRFU, most probably within the fortnight.

A sub-committee of the union, along with chief executive Philip Browne, will meet with the team management next week, before reporting their findings to the rugby committee, who will in turn make their recommendations to the full IRFU committee.

Union committee members leaving France from Charles de Gaulle airport yesterday seemed almost as shell-shocked as the team and management staff which had made their way home from Lille Airport earlier in the day on a separate flight.

The 28-24 defeat to Argentina in Lens officially made this fourth World Cup Ireland's worst, and by failing to reach the quarter-finals for the first time Ireland's world ranking has effectively plummeted to somewhere between ninth and 11th, which will undermine a host of related sponsorship deals.

The committee believed they had done everything in their power to assist Gatland and his staff, and although keen not to take an impulsive decision (which would mean hiring Ireland's seventh coach of the 1990s), IRFU vice-president Eddie Coleman scarcely disguised their disappointment.

"There's no point in pretending otherwise, this result was a disaster," he said. "The performance was unacceptable in the professional era. After leading 21-9 it's come as a huge disappointment not to qualify for a home quarterfinal in Lansdowne Road, particularly when expectations were so high.

"We've made a huge investment in the professional game and that frustrates us even further," he added. "It is our responsibility to the Irish rugby public to sort this all out. We will have a meeting with the national management for a debrief in the next few days."

Coleman stressed, however, that "this is similar to what we would do at the end of every campaign. We will not make a kneejerk reaction.

"I want to make it clear that we're under no illusions as to the seriousness of the situation. We will consider all aspects carefully, calmly and in a very considered manner, then we will decide what we're going to do and where we go from here. We want to take lessons from this experience and get on with it."

In Argentina, the Pumas' victory was the main story on the front page of the main papers. Argentina "wins with class and heart and is now among the best eight teams in the world," said Clarin newspaper, the Spanish-speaking world's largest circulation daily, which dedicated seven of 17 sports section pages to the victory.