There was a defiant choreography to the way the five Irish team principles walked into the interview room yesterday in tight single-line formation. It was as if they had huddled in the corridor before coming in to scrum down with the media. By the end of it all the alpha male, Eddie O'Sullivan, told us he had no answers to the questions, or, rather no concrete solutions to problems that now aggressively threaten to end Ireland's World Cup at the pool stage.

"I wouldn't say it is mission impossible," said the Irish coach. "But there is a mountain to climb. I'm not avoiding that. I really wish I could tell you exactly why we are not firing on all cylinders."

For a coach like O'Sullivan, whose strengths are thoroughness and analysis, conceding he had no tangible answer was arresting. There is an obvious malaise in the team and he could see and point out the symptoms but fathoming the reasons was more exacting and at this stage beyond him and his management.

O'Sullivan declined to be sucked into the pejorative vocabulary of embarrassment and blame, the sort of language we were seeking. Still, everything was thrown at him - the anger of fans streaming down Boulevard du Maréchal-Leclerc, his loyalty to certain players, whether his coaching was part of the problem, team anxiety and if there was a certain amount of self-deception about just how bad the performances have been.

"I'm not sure why we are making all the mistakes we're making," he added. "We weren't making them before and we are now. We've prepared as we did for the Six Nations and the work the lads have put in is right up there. We've been better on the ball, held on to it longer. Maybe there is a nervousness in the team. Maybe there is an element of, I suppose, trepidation in that they are not playing well and that often brings its own pressures. It hasn't really clicked yet. It is very frustrating for everybody and I appreciate that.

"We are disappointed, obviously. We are not where we want to be. It is very frustrating for me and for the players. It is what it is. We have a game on Friday night and we will try to improve . . . we have got to improve. I'll admit that. Sure there is disappointment out there by the way we played. There is and I understand that but it is not as if we aren't trying."

Given the way Ireland clung on to deny Georgia their first World Cup win, there were no accusations of Ireland lacking effort. But the team have moved on from a past of glorious defeats to a present of threadbare victories. The central issues appear to come down to individual players and the mistakes they are making in various areas of the pitch. Slack kicking for touch gave Georgia ammunition to batter Ireland while frequency of turnovers was, as it had been against Namibia, a consistent, self-inflicted wound.

"The form line of the team has been fairly stagnant," accepted O'Sullivan. "The problem, overall, was again down to turnovers and to be fair the Georgians pinned us back a lot. We had a lot of possession in the defensive third of the pitch. If we turn ball over in the areas in the way that we are doing now, we are in trouble with any team. Accuracy is what we need. We are trying to play a level of rugby that if it clicks for us, then we know we can play very well.

"Then we come to the World Cup and for some inexplicable reason we've tried to play that game but haven't been able to. We could revert to whack it in the air and run after it and force errors but I don't think that will get the results against the bigger teams."

In rugby parlance the "ask" is now to beat a team that Ireland have not beaten in Paris since March 2000. But the Irish side in a tailspin and travelling to the northern suburb of St Denis for a French welcome in Stade de France seems an exceptionally charitable way to arrive.

For now O'Sullivan and his team have their resolute faces. But as he talked through it, at the team hotel, his bafflement finally percolated through. "Twelve hours after that performance," said O'Sullivan, "I don't have any magic answers."