As Ireland gear up for a huge quarter-final appearance at the Rugby World Cup against an impressive Argentina side, the topic of that stage of the tournament was discussed at the Off The Ball Roadshow this evening at the 3Arena.
With two of Ireland's best players at the tournament in 2011, Stephen Ferris and Brian O'Driscoll on hand to dissect where it all went wrong for Ireland, both men had differing opinions on the problems.
For Ferris, the confidence in the camp gave the squad the sensation that they could win the World Cup, and they were only a few games away from that title.
"Maybe a few of the other lads were thinking the same thing. Yes we were concentrating on the game and we were 100% in the game, but maybe somewhere in the back of my mind I knew we were better than Wales seven out of ten times...and maybe we were getting a little bit ahead of ourselves".
For O'Driscoll however, there were other issues at play: "I have a slightly different opinion in that I thought we had an unbelievably talented team that year...I think we had a really bad attack shape and we didn't have a full understanding as to how to get the most out of the players".
He added that the team lacked a clarity in their roles and responsibilities which the current Ireland side has: "We didn't have the understanding as to how to pull them apart, and that's where coaching becomes such a huge part".
Speaking about the current team, he noted that knowing their roles at every moment is such a crucial part of their success: "When it's drilled into you the way it's been drilled into this team for the last two or three years under Joe [Schmidt], you can see the results. You can see what really good coaching is doing to this Irish side".
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