As the ink dried on Eddie O'Sullivan's new four-year contract, it signalled, to paraphrase Winston Churchhill, the beginning of the end of rugby as a sport, and end of the beginning of rugby as a business.

Anyone who has read these pages over the past few years will realise that this correspondent has never been a fan of the Irish coach, for numerous reasons. O'Sullivan's innate conservatism just doesn't go along with the way we like the game to be played, his selection blind spots are simply infuriating, he puts far too much emphasis on his first fifteen to the detriment of the squad as a whole and he never ever admits to getting anything wrong. And they're just some of the reasons.

We do acknowledge, though, that he has done a decent job as Irish coach over the past five-and-a-bit years, instilling a professionalism within the set-up that has been impressive to witness in operation. His side have done well on the pitch, too, capitalising on England's post-World Cup slump to win three Triple Crowns in four years. All in all, he's a relatively clever, well organised coach but it's very difficult to label him, even putting our issues with him to one side, as anything other than slightly above average. His win/loss record of 66 per cent attests to just that.

Thankfully for O'Sullivan, he's working within an organisation where average, or just above, is not only passable, it's the be all and end all. Let us tell you why. Irish rugby has, over the past 130odd years, been awful, truly awful at times, genuinely brilliant here and there but it's rarely been consistent, or to put another term on it, average. In seasons past, Ireland have gone out and battered England at Twickenham but then lost to Wales at Lansdowne Road the following weekend. It infuriated the IRFU hierarchy in days past and it infuriated them even more once the sport went professional. How could they hope to attract sponsors and their money to finance the sport if they couldn't guarantee the product?

The answer to that question flummoxed them for a while until they found a solution to the problem in Eddie O'Sullivan. "I remember at the start when I took over, " the Irish coach stated in an Irish Times interview in May 2006, "and I was asked what was my goalf I said the main thing I want to do is make Ireland a team that performs consistently. It is important because from a business point of view the Irish rugby team have to generate a lot of income for the IRFU, which runs the game, and if we're inconsistent it's not attractive for sponsors."

O'Sullivan's views make perfect business sense but it's disturbing to think that being consistent is all that matters to him. We don't doubt for one second that he puts every sinew of his being into his job but faced with changing a few things around to bring this Ireland side to a higher level, we think he'd rather play safe and ensure consistency rather than risk reaching for the stars and falling on his arse.

The same thing can be said about the IRFU. Rather than waiting until after the World Cup to assess O'Sullivan's performance, they've backed the safe option and hired him for another four years. In doing so, they've ensured that the sponsors will still come knocking at their door, rather than the other way around and while it can be argued that the bigwigs are merely ensuring the stability of Irish rugby over the next, the IRFU's actions, in our eyes at least, are seriously unaspirational.

Who in their right mind would offer a coach a new contract before seeing if he passes the biggest test yet of his ability? The FAI, I hear you say. Enough said. It's upsetting to think that Ireland could go out of the World Cup at the end of the pool stages yet the man ultimately responsible for their exit will not only be easing his way into a new contact, but also a pay rise. Of course, if Ireland do well in the World Cup, reach the semi-final for example, his contract extension will have been merited and all the kerfuffle about his contract will look ridiculous.

As of this moment, however, the IRFU's decision is grounded in business rather than rugby reasons and we're just not comfortable with that. Rugby is a sport as far as we're concerned, something that offers us an escape from the worries and pressures of modern life and it's disheartening to think that a steady flow of income now appears to matter more than achievement. Let's hope that this Irish squad prove their employers right over the next six weeks and demonstrate that O'Sullivan does deserve to remain at the helm until 2012.

But even if that does come to pass, the IRFU will have made the right decision for the wrong reasons.