That may all sound a little incidental but on 9 September next year the same venue will play host to another seminal moment in Irish rugby as the national side set their 2007 World Cup campaign into motion against the top qualifier from the Africa qualifying pool. It may be a good 18 months off but everything going on in world rugby at the moment is geared towards this day and for Ireland it's no different, no matter what anybody tries to spin to you about Triple Crowns and Six Nations Championships. If it's not contributing to 9 September 2007, it just doesn't matter.

Let's not beat around the bush here, it's been an absolute dog of a Six Nations Championship and if it has contributed to anybody's World Cup preparations, bar Scotland and Italy perhaps, it's surely been in the pejorative sense. England have discovered that Andy Robinson is only vaguely related to a rugby coach, France must be asking some of the same questions about Professor Laporte, while it looks like Wales will be looking for a head honcho from an extremely shallow pond in the coming months, having allowed a perfectly good one to slip out of their grasp for a reason that nobody has really been able to explain with any degree of satisfaction.

And Ireland? We called for Eddie O'Sullivan's head in these pages back in November and we've seen very little since to change our minds.

That may all seem a little harsh on the back of a half decent Six Nations effort but it's crucial to remember that Ireland have been one of the least worst teams in this shocking tournament, rather than one of the best. There's a major difference between those two statements but it appears to have been lost by the distraction of silverware.

There's been one or two discernable ways in which Ireland's tactics have differed over the course of the championship but if we're talking about progression, we'd be arguing about inches rather than yards.

True, Ireland have kicked the ball an awful lot less and thus held on to it a fair degree more, but they haven't really done anything ground-breaking with the increased possession they've enjoyed. Kicking less doesn't necessarily mean that the side are playing a more expansive game.

There have, however, been signs, particularly against Wales and Scotland, that the forwards appear to be offloading in the tackle that bit more efficiently but the Irish back-line appears to be struggling for ideas as much, if not more, than ever.

The argument emanating from O'Sullivan, and those who peddle his views seemingly ad nausea in the media, is that the Irish backs are playing a high-risk game plan that gains great rewards if it works, but looks stupid if it doesn't. It relies on the back-line lying extremely flat with the notion that the opposition only have a couple of inches to line up their man rather than a couple of yards. It's a lovely notion, we have to admit, to see the likes of Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy barging past a flailing defender who hasn't had enough time to set themselves up, but it just hasn't worked to any reasonable degree this season, yesterday's daring efforts excepted, and it doesn't appear to suit the players.

The tactic relies on a high degree of accuracy in the pass and excellent handling ability but if we're to list the capabilities of the likes of Shane Horgan, O'Driscoll and D'Arcy in descending order, handing ability and passing skills would be at the lower end of the scale. These guys like to run with the ball in hand and offload when the need arrives, not receive the ball and man within a few nanoseconds of each other.

There are other ways, as Leinster have shown this season, to utilise the many and various talents of these guys. It's time Ireland fastened on to them.

You have to remember in all of this that O'Sullivan is the backs coach to this team and the blame must lie with him.

Niall O'Donovan is a superb forward technician and it's shown this season, Graham Steadman has done a better than average job as defence coach despite only being half a year in the job, while even skills coach Brian McLaughlin appears to have made some sort of a difference in the area of continuity. The only aspect that's let the side down is the back play, and we'll absolve the players from most of the blame here.

They're being asked to execute a plan that may sound nice on paper but just doesn't work in international rugby.

We could write a book on why O'Sullivan shouldn't be in the job, and if we're being honest it would be more about the harm he's done over the past three years than this one in particular. He's been working with, arguably, the most talented pool of players that any Irish coach has had at his disposal but they still haven't played to anything like the level we know they can.

Then there are the other factors, the ones we pointed out back in November. While the back-line misfires, he still hasn't taken any help from anybody on the matter, particularly David Knox, who has the Leinster back division playing rugby from an entirely different universe.

O'Sullivan is still ignoring form players for reasons best known to himself; in a way, Keith Gleeson has now become the David Wallace of the past few years.

Added to all that, he still doesn't believe in the use of substitutes and thus, there are a number of benchwarmers . . . the likes of Simon Best and Eoin Reddan in particular . . .

who could conceivably come into any game in the first minute without so much as a notion of how to survive in international rugby. It's a scary thought, not least for the players in question you'd imagine, and Ireland's virtually injury-free season this time around can hardly be expected to be replicated over the next year-and-a-half.

But, as we've already mentioned, everything is about the World Cup at this point in the cycle and a couple of things have become clearer this season with that in mind.

The emergence of certain players has been a boon and there's certainly enough raw material out there for a good degree of confidence in Ireland's future, the inability of the coach to get the best out of his players put to one side. Jerry Flannery, for one, has proved that he is an international-class hooker despite a shaky opening game against Italy.

He has improved every single time he's pulled on the number two shirt and with himself and Frankie Sheahan . . . whenever he returns . . . in the ranks, Ireland look well set in that particular position. Marcus Horan, too, has done well in his first season as Ireland's first choice loose-head (he missed the France mauling in the front row remember), while John Hayes appears well capable of carrying through to the World Cup if given the required rest time by both of his masters. Ireland's second-row options must be the envy of most of the rest of the world with Paul O'Connell, Malcolm O'Kelly and Donncha O'Callaghan as good as anyone out there, and Mick O'Driscoll seemingly capable of stepping up should he be given his opportunity.

In the back row, Denis Leamy appears to have what it takes to become a genuine number eight, while David Wallace is producing the form we all expected him to once he was given an opportunity by the coach. Simon Easterby remains the coach's, and the rugby snobs', favourite but at least Ireland have plenty of other options should we eventually find that the emperor actually has no clothes.

As for the backs, nobody's going to usurp Peter Stringer and Ronan O'Gara before the World Cup, but there is still a worrying lack of backup to the Munster twosome should injury strike before the big event.

Eoin Reddan may well prove to be a more than adequate number two to Stringer if he's given some decent game time over the coming months, while Jeremy Staunton may need to be blooded in New Zealand or Australia to find out if he's truly the next best thing to the soon-to-beretired David Humphreys.

The Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy centre combination is having its problems now, but if they can do it with Leinster they can surely do it with Ireland with a dollop of sensible coaching and with Andrew Trimble, and even Barry Murphy on the scene when he returns from injury, Ireland look well set in this particular department. Geordan Murphy is a top-class full-back and will prove it over time, while on the wings Shane Horgan and Rob Kearney, even Tommy Bowe if he returns to form, look the most likely World Cup starters should O'Sullivan dispense with his notion of playing two non-wingers on the flanks.

One you can get away with, two you just can't.

So despite the dark, dank days that this Six Nations campaign has produced, Ireland appear in decent shape for the real stuff in 18 months' time. With a new coach, which won't happen, or better coaching, which just might if O'Sullivan opens his mind and involves more brains in the camp, the scenario where Ireland lose to France, scrape past Argentina and get beaten out the gate by the All Blacks at the quarter-final stage, might just be avoided. It'll still take a lot of work, though.