The pain of Ireland's shameful exit from the Rugby World Cup is all the greater because, for once, an Irish team travelled to a global tournament with genuine expectation.
That expectation was not fostered by the media alone but was based on the past performances of the team's three Triple Crowns in the last four years and the comments of the team's coach Eddie O'Sullivan and senior players like Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell.
Contrary to what he is now saying, Ireland's coach said in the weeks preceding the tournament that "winning the World Cup is a possibility if we do certain things right". The gulf between that aspiration and the actual performances delivered on the pitch over the last four weeks has left supporters, who travelled in their thousands to Bordeaux and Paris, saddened, bewildered and angry.
It is true that none of the Six Nations teams have covered themselves in glory but the way in which Ireland struggled to overcome the part-timers of Namibia and Georgia was, frankly, embarrassing.
Understandably, the focus now is on where things went wrong and what measures can be taken in the future to ensure no repeat of such failure. The IRFU is expected to conduct its own review but it is important that such an exercise focuses not just on the past few weeks but on the whole preparation for the tournament.
In that regard, the IRFU might turn the light on its own three-man appointments committee who recommended a four-year contract extension for Eddie O'Sullivan before the tournament began. Fairness to the coach demanded that his past achievements at Six Nations level be taken into account but it is the World Cup that is the real measure of a team's progress.
It has become a mantra that this is the most talented and best prepared Ireland team of all time. Whatever about the first part of that assertion, and players like O'Driscoll, O'Connell, D'Arcy and O'Gara do not come around too often, the second just does not stand up to scrutiny. Ireland's performances have been by turns lethargic, disjointed and error-ridden. O'Sullivan says that he suspects the team had too little rugby coming into the tournament but is that not a failure of his preparation?
What is beyond doubt is that no Irish rugby team has ever had so much time and money devoted to its preparation. In those circumstances, and where performances fall so far short of expectation, for any credible review the coach's position must be re-considered. The rugby-paying public will expect to see accountability - on and off the pitch.