O'Sullivan not to blame, says O'Driscoll

Brian O'Driscoll has given coach Eddie O'Sullivan a vote of confidence by blaming the players for Ireland's World Cup shambles.

A comprehensive 30-15 defeat by Argentina dumped Ireland out of the tournament and secured the Pumas a quarter-final against Scotland next Sunday.

The pain of their failure has been intensified by the realisation they were nowhere near progressing from the World Cup's 'pool of death' after being well beaten by France and Argentina.

O'Sullivan, who was awarded a new four-year contract only a week before the tournament began, is under pressure to explain events of the last three week.

But for O'Driscoll the responsibility lies with the players, not the coach.

"It feels very low to be knocked out of the World Cup," said the skipper. "It's the second time I've felt this way at the hands of Argentina.

"It's tough to take but that's sport. If you don't perform you don't get the rewards. A lot of the onus has to go on the players.

"There's only so much coaching that can be done. The responsibility is on the 15 guys that take the field.

"We didn't front up enough during the four games. Maybe we played some half-decent rugby against Argentina but it was too little, too late. As individual players we'll look back with disappointment at the way we played."

O'Sullivan has pledged to see-out his contract and insisted a disappointing World Cup has not diminished his enthusiasm.

"I'm totally committed to this job. I still have a contract to run and every intention of seeing it though," he said.

"I have the appetite for the job and I want to see it out. This has been a tough World Cup, no question about it.

"Things haven't gone to plan but that's no reason to walk away. I've never walked away from a challenge in my life and I don't intend to start now."

Ireland began the day needing to beat Argentina by more than seven points while scoring a minimum of four tries, but that target looked way beyond them.

Beautifully executed scores from Brian O'Driscoll and Geordan Murphy gave them faint hope but Argentina, who led 18-10 at the break, were in the ascendancy throughout

Wingers Lucas Borges and Horacio Agulla crossed in the first half for the Pumas, Felipe Contepomi booted 11 points and Juan Martin Hernandez weighed in with a hat-trick of drop goals.

After finishing top of Pool D, Argentina will be red-hot favourites to topple Scotland - but skipper Agustin Pichot insists his side will remain humble.

"Scotland have proved they are in the best eight in the World Cup, even though everyone wrote them off," he said. "They are like us in that everyone has also written us off.

"They are no less than us as a team and we can't afford to go into any game thinking we're better than anyone."