They were at Cheltenham any time a horse conceived on Irish soil stuck his neck out to stretch across the line, and they were at Twickenham when Shane Horgan did something similar with the ball firmly grasped in his right hand. The funny thing is that the horsey people and the rugby people never resort to the Spanish refrain to celebrate victories, but last week they did because the horsey and rugby folk were joined by folk from every other sport and being Irish was all that mattered. Not that there's anything wrong with that, far from it, but it just means that any kind of critical analysis has to be shelved for a week if the Ole Ole brigade are out in town. They don't do analysis, they just do celebration and how they enjoyed last week and last weekend.

But the seven-day moratorium on analysis has passed, so let's put our plastic shamrocks aside and look at what we achieved. On the day, we beat the poorest English side since the early 1990s by the skin of our teeth and had both touchjudges been that little more precise in going about their business, we wouldn't have beaten that sorry crowd. That's not being over-critical or overharsh, that's the truth. We should have won the game at something close to a canter, no matter what people say about how tough a nut England are to crack at home.

Not that we'd give the sweet victory back, but is there anything wrong with wanting and believing in the best for this particular Irish side? Make no mistake about it, this current crop, if led properly, are capable of winning the World Cup in 18 months' time. Yes, you read that last line correctly. We're not saying they're actually going to win it but they're more than capable of it. Why the hell not? They have a core group of players as talented as any other side in the world bar New Zealand, and if the All Blacks happen to get tripped up by one of their southern hemisphere cousins at some point in the competition, why shouldn't Ireland be the side to benefit?

We've asked a lot of hard questions of Eddie O'Sullivan this season, and received a lot of stick in the past week or two for doing so, but what's wrong with wanting better from this team, particularly when even the most pessimistic Irishman out there can surely recognise that they have the raw materials to do it? Last Sunday one 'Oirish' newspaper decided that all criticisms of Eddie O'Sullivan were wrong and said as much in a cowardly insert without a byline. Fair enough, the paper in question probably felt it had to make up for its lack of Irish content by becoming more Irish than the Irish themselves but surely posing valid questions about how this team is being coached and the direction they're taking is a worthwhile exercise. Fawning newspaper coverage does nobody any good; this Irish team has only reached 75% of its potential and for us, that's just not good enough.

We've made the points before but here we go again. The best Irish players out there still aren't being picked in the starting 15 and in the extended squad. Replacements need to be nurtured in case of injury in the case of the props and the two half-backs, and substitutes need to be used on a more regular basis. Forget the argument that the Irish bench isn't good enough. There are plenty of players out there, don't buy into the line that Irish rugby is short on talent because it's not.

The Irish A side made a mockery of their English equivalents on St Patrick's Day in Gloucester by playing clever, heads-up rugby and using their brains. If the Irish team playing in the real deal the next day had the same freedom, they'd have put 20 points on England.

Which brings us to our main point, namely the way this Ireland team approach the game under Eddie O'Sullivan. Admittedly they've held onto the ball a lot more this season but kicking less doesn't mean they've taken any massive strides forward. At times they've been confused and shapeless, particularly when the back-line has been aligned so flat its proponents have hardly had a millisecond to actually grab a hold of the ball before receiving an opposition player for company.

Admittedly against England they did play with a touch more depth and one spell in particular around the half-hour mark was not only exciting to watch, it was also wonderfully effective.

The ball went from the left touchline to the right within the space of four passes and nine phases later, after the ball had been spun back and forth across the field a further three times, Brian O'Driscoll almost put Gordon D'Arcy away wide left. Had the move been finished off by the centre, we would arguably have witnessed the greatest Irish try of all time. As it is, we've been left wondering why this side played rugby like that just once in the entire championship. The only other two moments that even come close to that period of play was the last 30 minutes against France and the move that led to Shane Horgan's second try. On both of those occasions Ireland were behind and facing the hangman's noose. Why do they only seem to be able to cut loose when the game's up?

The answer, it would seem from the outside at least, is because of the way they're being tutored by their head coach.

That shouldn't be a surprise because as any rugby fan out there knows, O'Sullivan is a conservative by nature and that personality trait isn't something that's easily changed in anybody who carries it about. But what Ireland need now is somebody who can think outside the box, somebody who saw that two-minute spell against England, or parts of that game against France, and wants this team to play like that from the first minute to the last, not once or twice a season. Obviously we're exaggerating the point by saying Ireland should play that game come what may . . .

kicking the ball and sticking up the jumper are valid on occasion . . . but taking risks should be this side's default setting.

If we felt Eddie O'Sullivan was capable of empowering his team to play the game like this, we'd be delighted to see him stay on as coach, and even if he hired in some coaching help to assist with the backline, he'd be the perfect man, superb organiser that he is, to lead this Ireland side to the World Cup.

But we just don't feel that he is and that's why we're certain this group of Irish players would be capable of much more with a different man at the helm.

We're going to look back at this in ten years' time and recognise the opportunity we allowed to slip from our grasp.

Triple Crowns are all lovely and fluffy but the way in which this Irish team is being led has stopped them, and will stop them in the future, from achieving anything truly worthwhile.