Ireland Stick By O'sullivan

The Irish Rugby Football Union today backed Eddie O'Sullivan by insisting the under-fire coach will lead Ireland at the next World Cup.

O'Sullivan's future has been cast into doubt after Ireland crashed out of the tournament at the group stage following Sunday's 30-15 defeat to Argentina. But chief executive Philip Browne claims O'Sullivan has the IRFU's full support.

"We have put our faith in Eddie," said Browne. "We made decisions last May in terms of where we wanted to go over the next four years. We're happy with that decision. In our view he's the best man for the job."

O'Sullivan was awarded a new four-year contract a week before the World Cup started - a decision that has attracted criticism for coach and union alike. But Browne highlights Ireland's success over the last four years as the thinking behind the extension, which expires after the 2012 World Cup. And he claimed the IRFU would not follow the lead of Wales, who sacked coach Gareth Jenkins after Fiji had sent them crashing out of the World Cup.

"What we have is a situation where we've had three bad matches and people are very disappointed - no more than ourselves," he said. "But we also have to reflect on what has happened over the last four or five years, where we have had the most successful performance of any Irish team or squad.

"That in effect really dictated and set the scene or the context in which we made decisions. In our view those decisions were right and we are quite happy with the situation we have. You can look across the water in Wales, where decisions have been made in relation to their coach. Wales are going into a situation where they have had 12 or 14 coaches in the last 21 years. I don't think that is necessarily good for Irish rugby to go down that road. We believe in continuity.

"We are a small sporting nation and I think what Eddie has brought to this team and Irish rugby has been second to none. I think we had a blip. We are gong to have to address the reasons why we had that blip and we'll do that in a considered way in a review process."