A Call to arms or the wrong Call?

In top-level sport the only thing that matters is performance. The coach - in this instance Uno Duce Una Voce - is responsible for putting players in a position to deliver that performance. His players let him and themselves down but the buck stops with Eddie.

Thanks for the memories, Eddie, time to collect your P45. You'd ease our pain if you'd take with you the IRFU cabal who prematurely renewed your contract.

Jack Power, Co Cork

One might say that the only way is up, but even this seems like a tall order. Surely after so many years of the same man with the same ideas it is time to change Eddie O'Sullivan, not only for his mistakes but also for the sake of new young players who don't have a chance of breaking into the squad while he's in charge.

After this World Cup the entire squad will change but there is no one ready to take the place of outgoing players.

What is the IRFU up to?

Ben McCormack

Comparisons with the Kerry team and what Tom Humphreys has been writing are very interesting; they kept talking about the squad of 30, picked players in form, Brian Sheehan and Séamus Scanlon, for example. Competition and rewarding the guys in form are good for morale and for winning.

Look how well the Kerry SQUAD get on, look at them smiling and joking. Also, remember they are amateurs. Management and leadership - always critical in sport and business.

Eddie's only chance now is to really go for it, freshen it up, backs and forwards. Change the way they are doing everything . . . Try and have more fun. When did you last see somebody in the Irish SQUAD or management smile?

John Brosnan

This was supposed to be the best-prepared team! Part of the preparation process is the role of management in setting out a way that the team should play. By any current rugby yardstick this management team has failed abysmally to provide the stuff of inspiration.

The signs of disintegration have been there since the loss in Murrayfield but no remedial plan seems to have been put in place.

Normally talented players seem inhibited and their body language reflects a lack of belief in the way they have to play.

Incredibly, this same management team has had its contract extended. Under their "leadership" Ireland may slip outside the top 10. The mind boggles!

Brian Ross, Co Wicklow

Given the quality of players in the team, success should be measured in terms of a Grand Slam, semi-final spot in the RWC or victory against a Southern Hemisphere team in their own back yard. The Triple Crown no longer counts and the players know that!

They have failed against those yardsticks.

In any other sport, the manager would be gone and a fresh approach taken.

A majority of that team is 30 and over. Time to call it a day and thank them for their contribution. . . The old approach has failed and more of the same is ludicrous.

Brian Flynn, Co Cork

We need our flag (Tricolour) and our national anthem back to put some pride into the team and the fans. I was there on Friday when the French sang their anthem - it was deafening and sung with passion. When our so-called song came on not everybody sang and those who did looked as if they were only doing it to try and lift the team. Every other country has their flag and national anthem to stand behind but not us. WHY NOT????

John Byrne

I propose . . . a national competition to find a new "all-Ireland" anthem that can be used for events like cricket, rugby, tennis and other sports where the entire island is represented. . . Let's take this out of the hands of the blazers and politicians and put it back with the true owners, the people of Ireland, the whole island!

Noel Morgan