Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan is confident his team's astonishing decline is not terminal.
O'Sullivan is under mounting pressure following Ireland's departure from France and must explain to the Irish Rugby Football Union what went wrong over the coming weeks.
So far he has struggled rationalise the deterioration from RBS 6 Nations title challengers to the stale team that feebly limped its way through the World Cup.
But O'Sullivan, who was awarded a new four-year contract last month, is adamant that fortunes can be revived.
‘This team has played exceptionally well in the past and that's the reason I'd say this isn't irreversible,’ he said.
‘The World Cup has been a huge disappointment but we have to ask if this team can get back to where it was. In all confidence I say yes.’
A hallmark of this World Cup has been the slow start of the Six Nations sides and O'Sullivan insists this is down to the timing of the tournament.
‘The window for the World Cup in September and that puts the northern hemisphere sides under severe pressure to get their A game together,’ he said.
‘If I could have changed things in the build-up, I would have played a lot more rugby in July and August.
‘In retrospect, we might have learnt a lesson there. Maybe the Six Nations teams will say the next World Cup can't be in the first month of the season.
‘The southern hemisphere are now where we are in January. That's not an excuse as we also feel we haven't played to our potential.’
O'Sullivan believes the anguish over Ireland's World Cup exit has been intensified by the team's success in recent times.
‘We were expecting a lot more from ourselves,’ he said.
‘The public were also expecting a lot more and that was because the expectation around this team was very high following an excellent ten months.
‘The team have created expectation and they must be given credit for that.
‘It's very easy to build a team up for the performances they've given, the commitment and the skills they've shown, and then when it goes wrong, use that as a bigger stick to beat them with.
‘That's the harsh part of this business but the lads accept and understand it.’
