Vickery lavished praised on the Ireland coachs side in a conversation between the two after Englands 43-13 RBS 6 Nations defeat at Croke Park.

Phil was very gracious after the defeat on Saturday. He told me he thinks Ireland are on a good track at the moment, OSullivan said.

He sees us as a team that could do very well at the World Cup. He said that in all sincerity. Hes been around a long time - hes had good and bad days against Ireland.

But OSullivan played down Irelands chances in France later this year and refuted suggestions that his team are in as strong a position as England were going into the 2003 World Cup.

Weve transitioned the team pretty well over the last year and a half now, he added

The last time we lost to England was at Lansdowne Road in a Grand Slam game (in 2003) and the score was the other way around to Saturdays. We were well beaten.

To say we are where England were in 2003 is a big statement to make. That team that beat us went on to beat New Zealand and Australia before going on to win the World Cup.

For us, job one is to get out of our pool and, if we can do that, we want to reach the semi-finals.