IT was late on Thursday evening and I was shopping in my local supermarket when I felt a gentle prod on my left shoulder. Thinking from the approach it was somebody I knew I turned around to be greeted by a pleasant but gruff old man with a concerned look on his face. "It's the jerseys, " he said.

I looked at him dubiously.

"They're too tight, " he continued. "That's why the team aren't firing. I played junior football and the jerseys were so tight I struggled for a breath."

He stopped, waiting for approval. I smiled and nodded. He stopped to put his basket down as if this was going to be a long conversation. Then came the question on everybody's mind: "Where did it all go wrong?"

What a difference three weeks can make. Try casting your mind back to when we thought this Irish team were serious contenders. It seems difficult but a complete 180 in three weeks seems all the more perplexing considering the previous four to five years of consistent form. Is it possible to become a poor team overnight?

Before that question can be answered the team must be broken down into its respective . . . or at least perceived . . . strengths and weaknesses. Let's start with what makes Ireland the envy of its Celtic cousins . . . a world class attacking back line.

Ireland have been blessed in this area over the past few years. Proof of this is to compare the 1990s to now.

The forwards always competed well but we never had the skill, pace or power in the back line to complete the package . . . hence the lean years of the mid-to-late 90s.

Then along comes O'Driscoll and Hickie, followed by O'Gara, Stringer, Horgan and Dempsey, with D'Arcy and Murphy completing the Irish hand. Quite a collection of talent, feeding off each others' confidence and ably led by the midfield general O'Driscoll.

Leading up to test matches the inside backs would analyse the defence and pick maybe four to five plays designed to unlock it and drill them under pressure. So in the good old days (six months ago) O'Gara sat in the pocket, kicked for field position, forced the scrum or line out and a play would be executed depending on whether a hard four up defence (eg South Africa) or a drift defence (eg England) was used.

Quick off the top lineout ball to Stringer. Flat pass to O'Gara, hitting it at pace and forcing the opposition defence to make a decision. Combine that with Horgan coming off the blind wing, Hickie floating in behind the back line waiting for a gap and the centres cutting aggressive running lines.

The worst case scenario would be a half break, quick go forward ball with either Leamy, Wallace or O'Connell coming around from the set piece and making more yardage, repeating the cycle and putting tremendous pressure on the opposition.

To summarise, the team have an organised system for multiphase play and with strong runners it is only a matter of time before there is a line break. The backline defence was physical and watertight, with D'Arcy and O'Driscoll excelling at creating turnovers and counter attacking.

It does not take Pythagoras to reason this is not what is going on now. The attack is laboured and predictable.

For example, France didn't see our half backs as a threat so they pushed their numbers on to our midfield. Only once did Ireland exploit this, with Trimble coming off his wing taking a well-timed flat pass from O'Gara only to be tackled by Chris White, who was, to be fair to Eddie O Sullivan, France's 16th man.

In attack and defence I have lost count how many times O'Driscoll has been clearing rucks. This is up there with hiring Michelangelo to paint the garden fence.

You don't need to be told that we're letting teams hold on to the ball too easily. What has happened to our superb turnover rate?

D'Arcy, who used to give the team the best go forward yardage in heavy traffic, is not getting onto the ball with the same intent. Ronan O'Gara, who has had a woeful assault on his personal life, is understandably suffering.

In times such as these, the captaincy will always be questioned. I have played under Brian O'Driscoll and can say he is inspirational. However, he is a leader by example, not a motivator, and this comes down to his position on the park, not his personality.

If something goes wrong upfront and there is a breakdown before the ball gets to him, he is therefore too far out to influence direct change.

Instead, his competitive nature lures him into taking too much responsibility and forcing things a little, which in turn draws blind criticism.

The scrum against France is the only set-piece platform Ireland will have been happy with to date. The eight forwards are winning most of their ball with the exception of the lineout against France.

The problem has been the nature of the ball. In a nutshell a lot of the possession generated is of insufficient quality to use in attack. The basics have been forgotten when clearing rucks. I would suggest that this is a mindset and nothing more. Paul O'Connell shoulders most of the flak and if I know him he would be tearing up every stone to sort it out.

An old coach of mine once told me about an ambitious athletics team he was familiar with. They designed a two-year training programme up to the world championships, stuck to it rigidly and took gold. They followed the same programme for the next two years and didn't place. This tells us that sport evolves and rugby is no different.

The processes that served the Irish pack well in the past must evolve also, otherwise your strength becomes a weakness.

Collectively, apart from the first 20 minutes against France, the defensive linespeed was not up to scratch.

When several of the dynamics across the board break down there is no one individual to point the finger at. I am inclined to point the finger at the way the build-up was trumpeted. It should have been clear that this was a preparatory exercise towards the team clicking and the emphasis put on the first match instead of the players being lured into a false sense of 'it will be alright on the night' as a result of a good pre-season's training.

My fear is that, although I believe Ireland can win against the Pumas, I think it may be too late to halt what can only be described as a premature exit from the competition.

The good news is that these problems are reversible and a bad team overnight can return to being a good team overnight with the right guidance.

We'll find out later today whether this guidance has been forthcoming.

Emmet Byrne is a former Leinster and Ireland prop forward and is now a TV and radio analyst