A visit to Lansdowne Road for a rugby international involving Ireland is something that one undertakes with great enthusiasm and sense of excitement. There is always a feeling of being part of a special occasion and even if an Ireland win is not expected, there is still great anticipation and hope that the odds will be defied.

In sharp contrast, I can never remember going to Lansdowne Road with less enthusiasm to watch an international than last Sunday when France played Argentina in the World Cup quarter-final.

That was a relic of Black Wednesday in Lens. It should have been a special day for Irish rugby. This could have been Super Sunday with Ireland playing for a place in the semi-final of the World Cup. Four days had done nothing to dampen my sense of disappointment and I feel sure that was the feeling of many at the match and at home. Whatever the outcome of a match between France and Ireland would have been, at least there would have been the satisfaction of seeing Ireland retaining a place in the top eight.

We have, of course, have no divine right to beat Argentina, or any other country for that matter. Right now, one could say we would not be favoured to beat 10 or more of the nations who competed in the World Cup finals.

But I must say I left Lansdowne Road last Sunday with something of a lighter heart than when I entered and for that I can thank Argentina. Here was a collection of brave hearts to lift the spirit. Had Ireland performed like this we would have felt a great sense of pride. The way the team played and the way they fought was inspirational. They were out on their feet before the final whistle but they never for a moment stopped trying, the heads never dropped. They deserved the ovation they got at the end. They left the ground with the scene signed by their honour.

The great courage and spirit of the Argentinians, even in the face of impending defeat, were tremendous. Here was a nation that in three previous World Cup tournaments had won just one match. And here is a squad of players the vast majority of whom are part-time. Through the years we have seen Ireland beaten on a regular basis - whitewashes in the Five Nations series were not a novel experience for us. But, invariably, there was a great spirit in the teams and a sense of pride. Pride and passion will not in themselves win matches, but neither will we win without them. Whatever the future holds, it will hold very little of a positive nature unless we rekindle that pride, if we are not to drop down the league of rugby nations at a more rapid rate. What is especially galling about the World Cup tournament from an Irish perspective is that there is scarcely a single element of satisfaction that we can take from it. In the decisive match against Argentina some of the senior professionals just did not perform. The Ireland manager and coach are well aware of that.

They must also be aware that they did not get selection right for that match. England, Wales and Scotland went only one step beyond us by reaching the quarter-finals. All three lost at that stage, but all three played with tremendous resolution. And however acute their disappointment, they all lost to countries who have won the World Cup and who are in the top three in the world. The Scots and the Welsh got standing ovations from their supporters even after defeats.

I stated last week the Ireland's current situation is a matter of collective responsibility and so it is. It embraces the players, the Ireland team management and the IRFU. Representatives of the IRFU Rugby Committee met the management during the week. It must have been an interesting meeting.

Ireland manager Donal Lenihan has the respect of his players. He was an outstanding international player, Ireland's first World Cup captain, twice a World Cup player, twice a Triple Crown and Championship winner. His commitment to and love of Irish rugby is beyond question. That should, if anything, sharpen his sense of disappointment and frustration. But it is hard to agree with his assessment that we have progressed over the last 18 months.

I would like him to be more specific as to the areas of progress. If progress has been made, then it must be rated a level of progression well below that of our major competitors. That is what this World Cup has so forcibly underlined. Reality is in the scorelines, the results and the performances.

And what of the coach Warren Gatland? He set out his stall very clearly: "Judge us on the World Cup." Well judgment time on that is right now and Warren knows that as well as anyone. The jury will not be split on the verdict. But in all the circumstances the time is not right now for a change of manager and coach. The decision that they stay on is the correct one. Philip Danaher has resigned as backs coach and selector. He must be replaced and he must be replaced by the right man. The Irish back play has been poor and the quality of most of the players in that back line has been sub-standard.

A few forwards, too, cannot reflect with much satisfaction on their performances. I believe that some players have been given too many chances and that is the responsibility of the management. Life is conditioned by an attitude, the Argentinian players underlined that last Sunday and further elaboration is scarcely necessary in relation to some players. The point has been made in this newspaper and elsewhere and it is a reasonable one about the level of expectation perhaps being too high. Well, nobody heightened it to a greater degree than the Ireland coach and some of the players themselves. But it was not an unreasonable level of expectation to believe that Ireland would, at least, make the quarter-finals. Have we forgotten all that talk and debate about it being beneficial for us to finish runners-up in the group?

But we must go on from here. The IRFU must look take an urgent look at where we are going, and what are we going to do about it. In the short term, it is best to leave Lenihan and Gatland in place for the Six Nations Championship and get in a person to work on the backs or give what other assistance is deemed necessary.

But the squad needs to be overhauled to a considerable degree and attitudes must change. It has been stated that we must take the emotion out of the current situation and then take the decisions. The emotional response does not indeed always lead to the right course.

But Irish rugby deserves very much better than it has got recently - a decent day's work for a decent day's pay and all that it embraces, including the vital ingredient of an unquenchable pride in wearing the national jersey.