Watching the Leinster-Leicester game from a hotel bar in Coventry in the company of Munster supporters, it was not audibly apparent that when Eddie O'Sullivan's face came up on camera, as it did on the big screen in the RDS, there was some booing inside the ground. This is a shame. It should never have come to this sorry state of affairs, but the IRFU are just as culpable as the Irish head coach.

The performances of Leinster and Munster, each drawing heavily on players who either underperformed or were not asked to perform at all during the World Cup, merely underlined what a debacle Ireland's campaign was. Both sides played with passion, intensity and enthusiasm, clearly enjoying the return to their home environs and blissful domesticity after a couple of months in camp.

During that time they were the victims of a flawed squad selection and an even more flawed team-selection policy that utterly failed to make full use of that squad. Reports of players returning home several pounds lighter confirm the impression that half the squad were overprepared and overtrained yet badly trained, underperforming, unhappy and divided players operating in a fairly intense but joyless environment.

It's worth bearing in mind there must have been at least 15,000 Irish at each of the Bordeaux games, 30,000-plus in Paris for the French match, and 15,000-20,000 for the game against Argentina in Parc des Princes.

Viewed in that light, they were entitled to a far more meaningful explanation for the team's performances than O'Sullivan's insufficient mantra about the "need for more games".

They were also entitled to a good deal more in the way of a reaction and response from the IRFU. Instead, the union's silence has been deafening, and hence insulting.

Two days after Ireland's exit, the IRFU CEO, Philip Browne, was pushed out in front of the RTÉ news camera to give his infamous and ill-advised "blip" verdict.

His subsequent comment while attending a sports conference in Brussels about "we will not be held to ransom by a contract" might merely be interpreted as Brussels Bluster. We shall see, for informed sources confirm there is a get-out clause.

In any event, 11 days ago the IRFU formally confirmed they had set up a review group headed by the IRFU president, Der Healy, and that Brian Porteous of Genesis would conduct a survey as an independent consultant. This was fully a month after Ireland's exit.

Astonishingly, Browne also revealed the review would be completed within "a matter of months". Perhaps the union, like O'Sullivan, thought that by going to ground, the matter, and with it the rugby public's palpable anger, would somehow blow away.

The blurred deadline - ie, "a matter of months" - will not be seen by the rugby public as an adequate response from an organisation supposedly running a professional sport/business.

The review's conclusions could therefore come out on the eve of, or even during, the Six Nations. If the review is critical of the preparation and the performances of the IRFU, O'Sullivan and some or all of the management staff, the timing will be dreadfully counterproductive for them and the Irish team.

If the review does not also examine the performance of the appointments committee of Neilly Jackson, Pa Whelan and Noel Murphy, who in tandem with Browne, director of rugby Eddie Wigglesworth and chairman John Hussey were involved in choosing to grant O'Sullivan alone a four-year extension before the World Cup, despite a run of five performances and results (now running at nine) suggesting this was anything but a blip, conspiracy theorists will feel the union are merely orchestrating a cover-up, and they may as well have employed Phil Collins or Peter Gabriel.

It is encouraging to hear that although the proposed players' survey will form part of the overall review by Genesis at least this is being done in conjunction with Irupa (Irish Rugby Union Players' Association) and therefore has not been shelved - as IRFU powerbrokers would no doubt have liked. And the players' input will be confidential.

It's instructive to compare the union's response with the proactive actions of the Welsh and English unions. No one is suggesting O'Sullivan should have been crudely sacked on the night of, or morning after, Ireland's exit. But because their key decision makers were answerable to a raft of committees, the Welsh could proceed at haste and go out and get their man, Warren Gatland.

Ironically, Ireland's hasty appointment of Gatland, and his summary removal in part because of his poor grasp of IRFU and Irish rugby politics after winning seven of his last 10 games in charge, has contributed to Wales obtaining a more complete coach than the 35-year-old the IRFU employed in 1998.

In part the Welsh coup was also the consequence of another old-world union, the NZRFU, dragging their heels over a World Cup review process that only started last week.

Meantime, despite England going all the way to the final, the RFU's director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew, interviewed Brian Ashton and the rest of the coaching staff last week as part of their review.

Each of England's 30-man squad were asked to submit a report, confidentially or anonymously if they so wished. The RFU's Management Board will convene on November 26th to receive Andrew's report and recommendations.

Now that's how you do it.

If only the IRFU powerbrokers were prepared to relinquish their grip and employ a director of elite rugby.

Meantime, many of those on the IRFU committee who were not even informed of or consulted about the Three Wise Men's decision feel as disenfranchised as the public. As for the players, they are loyal to a fault, even copping the blame for the World Cup. They followed the coaches' instructions and preparations to a T.

Yet one wonders how much they are motivated by fear of the head coach, how much respect they have for the back-up staff, and how much they truly believe the same set-up can turn things around.

Not alone did the Rugby World Cup of 2007 represent a glorious chance wasted, but the IRFU's apparent bungling, deafening silence and lack of transparency and accountability have merely compounded the schism between them and the rugby/sporting public. Evidence of that came last Saturday in the RDS.