The Irish Rugby Football Union has showed its support of coach Eddie O’Sullivan despite Ireland’s elimination from the Rugby World Cup. The team, which finished third in the tournament’s “group of death”, lost to France and Argentina and won against Namibia and Georgia but with poor performances.

“We have put our faith in Eddie. We made decisions last May in terms of where we wanted to go over the next four years,” Chief Executive Philip Browne said. He also explained that they see coach O’Sullivan as the man that would take them to the next World Cup. “In our view he's the best man for the job,” Browne added.

A few months before the World Cup, coach O’Sullivan signed a contract with the Irish Union for four years and €300,000 per year. Dismissing O’Sullivan would mean a big financial lost for the Union since the coach has no intentions to resign.

Browne highlighted that the team’s success during the last four years should be taken into consideration. “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.”