In the buildup to one of Ireland's November internationals last year, one of Declan Kidney's players was asked if he ever worried that time might be running out for this group. In the context of questions thrown in his direction, this was a slight curve ball. He looked startled, but quickly batted it away and was rescued a moment later by another avenue down which to escape.
A few weeks later, the same player happened across the same journalist in the car park after a Magners League game. "Jeez, what did you ask me that for?" he said. "You really put me on the spot!"
Of course he had got off the spot in the way you might get off a landmine, for this is an uncomfortable subject in Irish rugby. The fear is that the ship sailed in France in 2007.
Ireland are relying on key men who are all at the wrong age. The Lions captain, Paul O'Connell, is 31. Brian O'Driscoll at 32 is the talisman; he and the 31-year-old Gordon D'Arcy are still the go-to midfield pairing. Consider when this partnership was at its most potent: Ireland had just won their first Triple Crown in 19 years, with O'Driscoll having his most productive try-scoring season ever, with seven touchdowns spread across all competitions, and D'Arcy was the player of the Six Nations. That was 2004.
It has been noticeable in Camp Ireland in the preamble to this World Cup that any sign of overt confidence has been verboten. Rather, Kidney started off by telling his players what he would be telling the media – that they would be delighted to negotiate safe passage out of the pool – and the players picked up the ball and ran with it.
Of course, the results have been so bad as to make that ambition entirely apt, but the policy was in place before the games got in the way. Four years ago the mood was altogether different. Before the warm-up games went off the rails then, the players were happy to articulate visions of themselves competing with anyone in the World Cup. Why not us?
Hindsight has since defined this as being un-Irish, that we are by nature underdogs and the moment we see ourselves as potential leaders of the pack then we get our backsides bitten. There was every reason for that 2007 group to be confident, however: they had just missed out on the championship on points difference thanks to an injury-time try conceded by the Scots against France; and their consistency had brought them three Triple Crowns in the space of four seasons, which in the context of Irish rugby was uncommonly flash.
The players talked it up because they felt good about themselves. They felt it was their time. Of the starting team in the final World Cup game, against Argentina, five of the XV were over 30. That had risen to eight against England last weekend. Ireland have exactly half of their World Cup squad at that age or older.
Enda McNulty, the former Armagh Gaelic footballer who helps the Leinster players, who make up 13 members of Ireland's squad, with their mental conditioning, does not see this as a problem. "Through Leinster I've worked with a lot of them over the last four to five years and I was speaking to some of them before they flew down to New Zealand, and one thing they do not think is that they are too old," he said.
"I'd say they have a very successful profile between a grand slam and Heineken Cups, and even Ulster have become more successful in the past 12 months and Connacht are punching above their weight. These players see themselves as successful. They are not suffering a crisis in confidence."
It would be remarkable, however, if the four defeats of last month have not rattled them, for it is a toss-up now whether the pivotal game for Ireland in Pool C will be Australia or Italy. If they still aspire to beat the Wallabies, they will have to outrun and outmuscle younger men. The Australian starting XV against New Zealand in the Tri Nations decider had just two players over 30. If you go back a bit further, to Ireland's last-gasp draw against the Wallabies at Croke Park in 2009, the oldest man in the Australia side that day was 27.
In defence of Ireland's ageing group, comparisons have been made with the England side of 2003. They are nonsensical. Yes, England were long in the tooth, but sharp with it: their fitness was superior to most of the other teams in the tournament – Ireland's is not – and they had impeccable form, with a grand slam and away wins against New Zealand and Australia on the road to the World Cup.
O'Connell is still the rallying point up front. Having missed so much time last season he should have plenty left in the tank, but his partnership with the 32‑year‑old Donncha O'Callaghan does not look to be at the smashing end of the scale any more. They seemed at their most combative when together in red: the Lions tour to New Zealand in 2005.
McNulty contends that age is more an issue of psychology than physiology, and that the Irish players he knows tune into that. "It's about how old the athlete feels rather than the number on his birth cert," he said. Fans can only hope they are on the right frequency.
