"The bags under his eyes seem puffier, the lines on his brow more pronounced...The Ireland coach is under pressure and the world and its wife knows it." Dave Mervyn previews Ireland's Six Nations Championship challenge.

The bags under his eyes seem puffier, the lines on his brow more pronounced. A body language expect would have had a field day when viewing Eddie O'Sullivan at last week's RBS 6 Nations championship launch in London. The Ireland coach is under pressure and the world and its wife knows it.

The Ireland set-up is not a particularly pleasant one to be in at the moment, although some players have predictably admitted that that is far from being the case. 'A fresh start' and all that jazz, many are hoping the cloud can be lifted by a return to Croke Park, that most awe-inspiring of modern sporting cauldrons, for Saturday's Six Nations opener against Italy.

But O'Sullivan knows he has to deliver at least another Triple Crown to survive in his job. His squad, termed 'the golden generation' by many, failed miserably to deliver at the recent World Cup and were almost humiliated by Georgia after being talked up as potential favourites.

The Corkman may like to trade on statistics and he is right to point out that historically Ireland have performed well in the Six Nations, particularly under his guidance.

Five second place finishes in the past seven years, three Triple Crowns locked away in the trophy cabinet. That is a satisfying haul for most coaches but not when you look at the calibre of players at O'Sullivan's disposal and those he continues to disregard.

It is understandable when a team is going well, that a coach would stick with a consistent selection. But O'Sullivan only seems to operate in one mode - conservative - and that can be infuriating at times for Irish fans.

There was no fear of 'Steady Eddie' doing a Marc Lievremont and making sweeping changes to his panel of players after a disastrous World Cup. Oh no, the World Cup was just a blip for Ireland - both coach and captain have publicly said so.

If it was, this writer was watching a different tournament. Ireland have been playing below par since their eight-try hammering of Italy on the final day of last year's Six Nations tournament.

In their eight matches since then, the men in green, over-trained and under-cooked, have lost three times to Argentina, once both to Scotland and France and almost came a cropper in an historic Test against Italy at Ravenhill.

So what does O'Sullivan do to try and turn things around? Keep the majority of his under-achieving World Cup stars in the comfort they've become accustomed to.

It is simply not good and Ireland will pay the price when they lose to France in Paris on February 9 and another championship will have slipped from their grasp.

Players of the calibre of Bob Casey, who shockingly has not played for his country since 2000, Munster warhorse Anthony Foley, the Heineken Cup's greatest player and without an Ireland cap since 2005, and Keith Gleeson, one of Irish rugby's only out-and-out opensides, should be in or close to the Ireland squad for next weekend's clash with Italy.

All three are nowhere to be seen. Even when a player, old or new, has been given a chance to impress the Irish management in recent seasons, it is either against some mickey mouse opposition or in the dying embers of a championship game that has already been decided.

The replacements bench is almost an alien concept to O'Sullivan and his cohorts. True, some players like Jerry Flannery and Neil Best have taken to becoming 'impact subs', but when is the last time you have seen the Irish bench emptied in a constructive and meaningful way?

O'Sullivan has ventured that his 33-man squad for this year's Six Nations is a 'form selection'. Undoubtedly it seems so, but when you leave Tommy Bowe and Luke Fitzgerald, the two form Irish wingers at the moment, and Johnny O'Connor, the openside you originally selected over Leinster duo Gleeson and Shane Jennings, out for the Italian game, that thought process falls flat on its face.

With other teams rebuilding and getting used to new coaches, this is as good a time as any to bring in fresh blood, try new combinations and reward players for their Magners League and Heineken Cup form.

In my opinion, some Irish players need the seat kicked from under them. Competition for places should be at an all-time high. Undoubtedly, it is not and will never be under the current coaching regime, which has run its course and the sooner Eddie, a noted insomniac, wakes up and realises that, the better.

In an ideal world, a Munster-esque dream team of Declan Kidney (head coach), Alan Gaffney (assistant and backs coach) and Mick Galwey (team manager) would step in to regenerate the Ireland set-up for the summer tour to New Zealand and Australia. Pigs can fly, can't they?