The IRFU should get the coaching right, look at underage structures and provide support for non-Irish based players, writes JOHN O'SULLIVAN

THE CARCASS of defeat presents easily for forensic evaluation because hindsight is an exact science that can largely disregard pre-match theory and supposition as it comes armed with the outcome. Tantalised by the possibility of treading where there were previously no Irish footsteps in reaching the last four of the tournament merely exacerbated a sense of frustration in the aftermath of last weekend’s quarter-final loss to Wales.

That despair wasn’t about underestimating a Wales side that was deserving winners on the day, but the assertion that Irish ambition was rooted in reasoned advocacy. It’s important to distinguish between why Ireland lost the Welsh match and tracing a recurring pattern of failure in World Cups.

The two are interrelated but only on a superficial level.

Whatever the public sense of sadness, the players’ regrets will be much more acute because they literally took the lumps. Theirs is not some woolly notion about defining careers and achieving a feat that distinguishes this crop of players from every other team in the history of Irish rugby.

That’s an abstract by-product.

Instead it was based on a simple premise that they were good enough to progress further. Understanding why they didn’t is a key to progression and not just in terms of future World Cups.

There are differing priorities for Declan Kidney, his coaching and management team and the IRFU but they bisect at various points in plotting a new route. And change must come if Ireland hopes to try to escape the cul de sac of a World Cup quarter-final.

The only compunction in dwelling on the past should be to learn from it in shaping the future. A solution will not be found exclusively in the defeat to Wales. The equation is much more complicated. There are important short-term issues like recruiting a successor to backs coach Alan Gaffney, now that he is returning to Australia.

Ireland boast excellent coaches in the national set-up and that quality should be reflected in any appointment. Australia tend to embroider their back play with innovation and someone like former Stade Francais and Bath backs coach Steve Meehan coaxed teams to play in that vein.

That is not to disregard Irish-born coaches but there is a less worn path of progression to the top in the national system. It would be marvellous to think that the union could fill the position from within the country.

Brian Walsh (Cork Constitution head coach) and Mark McCall (Saracens head coach) are just two examples from the club and formerly the provincial genus respectively. The IRFU must examine its protocol in terms of a coaching pathway.

There are divergent issues to which Kidney and the union must attend. The Ireland coach will review the World Cup from a playing perspective; with regard to selection, patterns, the use of replacements and sundry other game-play specific minutiae.

He must then decide what part of the playbook needs tweaking and the players best suited to implementing those changes, whether existing or new, for the 2012 Six Nations. Kidney recently agreed a two-year contract which takes him to 2013, still a couple of years shy of the 2015 World Cup.

As a matter of record, the IRFU’s position on the Six Nations is unambiguous. It is their primary revenue generator and that’s been communicated to successive Irish coaches. Winning a Grand Slam next season won’t assuage the disappointment of what happened last weekend but it will fill the union’s coffers.

Victories in one or two matches out of five in the Northern Hemisphere tournament for the next three years on the premise of adhering to an experimental blueprint to try to challenge for the ultimate honour at RWC 2015 won’t be a compromise acceptable to the IRFU Performance Committee.

The union has given the Kidney two years to earn a contract renewal and in doing so ostensibly articulated that preparing for RWC 2015 is at most a two-year enterprise. Kidney faces a primarily result-heavy remit in the interim.

At some point though during the next four years, the IRFU Performance Committee must remove the shackles if deciding that the World Cup should take primacy, and provide the coach with the latitude to focus on that: it might require a 12-month or 24-month indulgence on their part. Otherwise empirical evidence suggests the last eight of a World Cup represents an unbreakable ceiling.

The review process in the IRFU will see amateurs evaluating professionals. It’s the calibre of the questions as much as the answers that will determine the success of the process.

If the union wishes to preside over an evolving sport then their parameters of self regulation in terms of the performance evaluation of the national side need to be thorough and transparent; objective rather than subjective in taking the sport forward. They must also re-examine other issues.

The IRFU must decide what they want from their age-grade representative structures. Ireland have won Under-20 Six Nations Championships and a Grand Slam but only in 2004 (it was under-21 at that time) did they produce a side that went on to reach a World Cup final at that level. Ireland simply do not feature when the Southern Hemisphere teams are added to the mix.

An interesting aside is that Wales used to be preeminent at that level in terms of winning Five and Six Nations championships but not in the last half dozen years. They had eight players 23 years of age and younger in their World Cup squad and one in George North who is just 19. Primacy appears to be given to the development and refinement of talent on the premise that if they’re good enough, they’re old enough to play senior Test rugby; under-age trophies seem to be a secondary focus.

In Ireland schools rugby represents a premium production line but it is not their responsibility to produce professional rugby players. At the elite end of the schools game it is about winning cups, the result superseding an holistic approach to skills development.

In most schools, rugby is coached on a voluntary basis by teachers who give their time selflessly. The union needs to look how they can assist educating in coaching terms, those who teach the sport. It’s doubtful whether someone who has little or no background teaching maths would be allowed to preside over the honours Leaving Cert syllabus. The schools need to be receptive, the union facilitating. The same can be applied to the clubs who are very important in this respect too.

It is in the interests of all concerned to provide a nurturing environment to enjoy the sport irrespective of standard. It’s very evident at minis, where the IRFU’s guidelines emphasise fun in a non competitive environment and are rigorously applied.

Academies and their sub academy siblings have a finite amount of places that is far outstripped by the numbers seeking admission. The upshot is a massive drop off in playing numbers because age-grade in club rugby can’t accommodate them either. There are four professional provincial rugby franchises in Ireland: even for those who get into an academy, there is no guarantee of a professional contract. The attrition rate is significant.

During the week the second round of British Irish Cup took place and it was striking the number of ex-Irish schools, Under-19 and Under-20/-21 internationals that are plying their trade with English Championship clubs.

Former Gonzaga and Trinity College student James Gething, a 23-year-old tighthead prop (Ireland Schools/Under-19s), formed an all Irish frontrow alongside Rob Sweeney (Ireland Schools/U-19/U-21) and Kevin Corrigan (Ireland U-21) in Esher’s victory over London Scottish.

Tighthead prop Royce Burke-Flynn (24, Ireland Schools/U-19) played alongside Michael Noone (22, Ireland Schools/U-19/U-20) and Michael Keating (21, Leinster, Leinster Academy, Ireland U-20) played for the Doncaster Knights; a club that boasts a significant number of Irish born players.

The IRFU, through the Exiles network, should encourage and support those who demonstrate the appetite and the aptitude to play professional rugby outside the country. Mike Ross, Geordan Murphy and James Downey demonstrate what can be achieved for those who don’t make academies in Ireland.

Ireland should reap the benefit of Niall Morris (23) and Stephen Macauley (19), both currently at the Leicester Tigers, being afforded a chance to play in a first-class rugby environment: the more Irish players operating in that strata, the better.

Irish rugby operates reasonably successfully in a challenging Test environment. Many issues predated the World Cup but quarter-final defeat brought them into sharper focus. The foundations at the bottom of the playing pyramid need attention from schools and clubs, through to the professional peak.

It’s about giving the young players the tools or skills set to enjoy the game; it’s about having a strong and inclusive coaching framework. It’s being supportive of the non-Irish based players; it’s about having the best coaches in place to guide the national side and letting them get on with it.

It’s about being more flexible and less predictable in the Test arena, being able to problem solve on the hoof.

The defeat to Wales can be a catalyst for positive change.