THE HIGHS February 3rd, 2002, Lansdowne Road: Ireland 54 Wales 10. A whirlwind, six-try start to his tenure, featuring a brace for Geordan Murphy on the right wing and one for the debutant Paul O'Connell, though this would be quickly followed by a 45-11 thrashing by England in Twickenham.

November 1st, 2003, Adelaide Oval: Ireland 16 Argentina 15. A fraught, taut afternoon helped to exorcise some of the ghosts of Lens 1999, but only after Alan Quinlan had pilfered a try off a Puma lineout and Ronan O'Gara had been sprung from the bench to release the shackles, Ireland surviving a late drop-goal attempt by Ignacio Corletto.

March 6th, 2004, Twickenham: England 13 Ireland 19. One of O'Sullivan's finest hours as Ireland became the first team to beat the reigning world champions and storm their Twickenham fortress with a match-winning try by Girvan Dempsey.

March 27th, 2004, Lansdowne Road: Ireland 37 Scotland 16. A vintage, two-try display by Gordon D'Arcy, along with tries by Murphy, Peter Stringer and David Wallace, recalled from the wilderness after Keith Gleeson had broken an arm in Rome, earned the first of three Triple Crowns.

March 18th, 2006, Twickenham: England 24 Ireland 28. A second Triple Crown (right), won in the English HQ, courtesy of a daring late blindside chip by O'Gara and gather by Brian O'Driscoll, putting Shane Horgan away.

November 19th, 2006, Lansdowne Road: Ireland 21 Australia 6. Following the 32-15 win over the Springboks a week earlier, on a grey, sodden Dublin day cracking tries by Murphy and Denis Hickie helped complete a high-quality Southern Hemisphere double scalping.

February 24th, 2007, Croke Park: Ireland 43 England 13. The day of days, and assuredly O'Sullivan's finest day. He said all the right things and pressed all the right buttons and his fired-up team, inspired by a virtuoso display by O'Connell, ripped an ill-prepared England to shreds by a record margin.

Alas it was something of a peak, in tandem with a free-flowing, eight-try rout of Italy three weeks later that fell one score short of the title.

THE LOWS

April 6th, 2002, Stade de France: France 44 Ireland 5. A Slam-clinching finale to Fabien Galthie's Six Nations career concluded the first Six Nations under O'Sullivan and remains the heaviest defeat of his tenure.

March 30th, 2003, Lansdowne Road: Ireland 6 England 42. After a record 10 wins in succession, Ireland sought to engage England in a thrilling, touchline-to-touchline running game but Phil Larder's defence was impenetrable and the World Cup winners in waiting pulled away ruthlessly to reach the first half of their holy grail in this Grand Slam shoot-out.

February 14th, 2003, Telstra Dome, Melbourne: France 43 Ireland 21. Beaten out the gate by a far sharper French side by half-time in this anti-climactic World Cup quarter-final, which was disguised partially by a late rally inspired by David Humphreys and Keith Wood's immediate retirement.

November 26th, 2005, Lansdowne Road: Ireland 14 Australia 30. Following a 45-7 mauling (the eighth 40-pointer of his tenure) by the All Blacks a week before sans O'Driscoll and O'Connell, O'Sullivan's position came under pressure for the first time, sparking the famous Steady Eddie Go headline in the Sunday Tribune.

February 11th, 2007, Croke Park: Ireland 17 France 20. With the big two at the temporary home of Croke Park, a golden opportunity to lay the foundations for a first title since 1985 and first Slam since 1948 was lost amid a nervous first half-hour and the late concession of a match-winning try to Vincent Clerc.

September 9th, 2007, Bordeaux: Ireland 14 Namibia 10. The most embarrassing day of O'Sullivan's reign, defeat prevented only by Denis Leamy's try-saving body positioning late on. After a 25-3 defeat to the World Cup hosts, it left them needing a bonus-point win over Argentina but a convincing defeat put paid to a dismal campaign.

March 8th, 2008, Croke Park: Ireland 12 Wales 16. Defeat, amid an utter lack of ambition in a limited game plan, to his former boss Warren Gatland - Wales winning the Triple Crown - effectively sealed O'Sullivan's fate.

THE COMPLETE RECORD

3/2/02 6N: bt Wales 54-10 (h)

16/2/02 6N: lost England 45-11 (a)

2/3/02 6N: bt Scotland 43-22 (h)

23/3/02 6N: bt Italy 32-17 (h)

6/4/02 6N: lost France 44-5 (a)

15/6/02: lost New Zealand 15-6 (a)

22/6/02: lost New Zealand 40-8 (a)

7/9/02: bt Romania 39-8 (h) Thomond

21/9/02 WCQ: bt Russia 35-3 (a)

28/9/02: bt Georgia 63-14 (h)

9/11/02: bt Australia 1809 (h)

17/11/02: bt Fiji 64-17 (h)

23/11/02: bt Argentina 16-7 (h)

16/2/03 6N: bt Scotland 36-6 (a)

22/2/03 6N: bt Italy 37-13 (a)

8/3/03 6N: bt France 15-12 (h)

22/3/03 6N: bt Wales 25-24 (a)

30/3/03 6N: lost England 42-6 (h)

7/6/03: lost Australia 45-16 (a)

14/6/03: bt Tonga 40-19 (a)

21/6/03: bt Samoa 40-14 (a)

16/8/03: bt Wales 35-12 (h)

22/8/03: bt Italy 61-6 (h) Thomond Park

6/9/03: bt Scotland 29-10 (a)

11/10/03 WC: bt Romania 45-17

19/10/03 WC: bt Namibia 64-7

26/10/03 WC: bt Argentina 16-15

1/11/03 WC: lost Australia 17-16

I9/11/03 WC q/f: lost France 43-21

14/2/04 6N: lost France 35-17

22/2/04 6N: bt Wales 36-15 (h)

6/3/04 6N: bt England 19-13 (a)

20/3/04 6N: bt Italy 19-3 (h)

27/3/04 6N: bt Scotland 37-16 (h)

12/6/04: lost South Africa 31-17 (a)

19/6/04: lost South Africa 26-17 (a)

13/11/04: bt South Africa 17-12 (h)

20/11/04: bt USA 55-6 (h)

27/11/04: bt Argentina 21-19 (h)

6/2/05 6N: bt Italy 28-17 (a)

12/2/05 6N: bt Scotland 40-13 (a)

27/2/05 6N: bt England 19-13 (h)

12/3/05 6N: lost France 26-19 (h)

19/3/05 6N: lost Wales 32-20 (a)

12/6/05: bt Japan 44-12 (a*)

19/6/05: bt Japan 47-18 Ireland (a*)

12/11/05: lost New Zealand 45-7 (h)

19/11/05: lost Australia 30-14 (h)

26/11/05: bt Romania 43-12 (h)

4/2/06 6N: bt Italy 26-16 (h)

11/2/06 6N: lost France 43-31 (a)

26/2/06 6N: bt Wales 31-5 (h)

11/3/06 6N: bt Scotland 15-9 (h)

18/3/06 6N: bt England 28-24 (a)

10/6/06: lost New Zealand 34-23 (a)

17/6/06: lost New Zealand 27-17 (a)

24/6/06: lost Australia 37-15 (a)

11/1/06: bt South Africa 32-15 (h)

19/11/06: bt Australia 21-6 (h)

26/11/06: bt Pacific Islands 61-17 (h)

4/2/07: 6N: bt Wales 19-9 (a)

11/2/07: 6N: lost France 20-17 (h)

24/2/07: 6N: bt England 43-13 (h)

10/3/07 6N: bt Scotland 19-18 (a)

17/3/07 6N: bt Italy 51-24 (a)

26/5/07: lost Argentina 22-20 (a)

2/6/07: lost Argentina 16-0 (a)

11/8/07: lost Scotland 31-21 (a)

24/11/07: bt Ireland 23-20 (h, Ravenhill)

9/9/07 WC: bt Namibia 32-17

15/9/07 WC: bt Georgia 14-10

21/9/07 WC: lost France 25-3

3/9/07 WC: lost Argentina 30-15

2/2/08 6N: bt Italy 16-11 (h)

9/2/08 6N: lost France 26-21 (a)

23/2/08 6N: bt Scotland 34-13 (h)

8/3/08 6N: lost Wales 16-12 (h)

16/3/08 6N: lost England 33-10 (a)

(*) Niall O'Donovan took charge

Overall: Played 78; won 50; drawn 0; lost 28 (including two winning Tests in Japan.)

Six Nations: Pl 35 Won 24 Lost 11

Six Nations final standings: 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 4th

Players used: 79