O'Sullivan calm on Ireland future

Eddie O'Sullivan's Ireland lost three of their Six Nations games

Under-pressure Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan said he would not rush into a decision on his future after Saturday's 33-10 defeat by England.

O'Sullivan, in change since November 2001, said he wanted to carry on but added a decision would be made after talks with his Irish RFU bosses.

"We will sit down and review the tournament in the cold light of day," said O'Sullivan.

"We will have to wait and see how that goes. I certainly want to be around."

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Many pundits believe it is only a matter of time before O'Sullivan's departure is announced.

The Irish had a poor World Cup and won just two of their five fixtures in the RBS Six Nations.

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"We have to let the dust settle. There is a lot of emotion straight after a defeat in the Six Nations," added O'Sullivan.

The defeat left Ireland fourth in the Six Nations table, the first time they have finished outside the top three since its inception in 2000.

"It's been a disappointing Six Nations because in the recent past we've always managed to win more than we lose but that's been turned around this year as we've lost more than we've won," said O'Sullivan.

"We wanted to hit the ground running and have a big tournament but unfortunately we spluttered instead of playing.

I wouldn't do anything differently, we took each game on its merit and tried to win them all Eddie O'Sullivan

"We had a good performance against Scotland and then suffered a setback against Wales.

"I wouldn't do anything differently, we took each game on its merit and tried to win them all.

"If I could change results I would but I don't think you could say that we went out and did anything foolish.

"We gave it our best shot in every game, in some games it happened for us, some games it didn't."

Ireland raced into a 10-0 lead against England when Rob Kearney crossed with only four minutes on the clock with Ronan O'Gara landing the conversion and a penalty.

But the visitors could not sustain that early momentum.

"On the day the better team won, the final score was a reasonable reflection of their dominance," said O'Sullivan.

"The area that really worked in their favour was the midfield. Their midfield worked well together as a unit. They caused us problems in that area and we didn't do the same to them.

"The midfield is the one area where we've been having a few problems with injuries and have had to shuffle guys around.

"We didn't have the cohesion that England had in that area. That was the difference between the teams, they were able to do more damage with the ball."