IT SAID SO much that Ireland were scrambling to cling onto their losing bonus point by the end.
With Japan having very nearly pulled clear when Kenki Fukuoka intercepted Jordan Larmour’s pass, only to be denied by Keith Earls chasing back, the Brave Blossoms looked to seal the deal.
But Ireland managed to find a final scrap of resistance and Joey Carbery, who came off the bench at out-half, kicked the ball into touch – though his kick was met with a mixture of relief and confusion.
Speaking after Ireland’s shock 19-12 defeat to Japan, Carbery said he had known time was up and was keen to hold onto his side’s losing bonus point.
“I suppose we were under pressure and there wasn’t too much happening at the time,” explained the Munster man. “The ball kinda came quickly to me.
“I knew we were still in with a losing bonus point and I didn’t see too many other options on, so I just put it out.”
Some felt Ireland should have continued to search for a way to rescue the result but while Carbery believed his forwards could produce more work-rate, he couldn’t quite see a way to the other end of the pitch.
“I definitely think we could have [kept going] but when the ball came to me, they were up in my face. I didn’t want want to risk it with a short kick or anything like that and concede [another try].
“I haven’t looked back at it yet but at the time, I thought it was the right option.”
His head coach, Joe Schmidt, supported that decision.
“Potentially the bonus point could be really important,” said Schmidt. “It means that we’ve got six points from our two pool games so far, Japan have got nine and Samoa have got five. So they’re the ones who’ve got points so far and you’ve got to finish in the top two.
“So, keeping that bonus point allowed us to stay in front of Samoa in the short-term and we know that Scotland will be a player and Russia will line us up in five days’ time.”
Carbery got the final quarter off the bench as Ireland attempted to save themselves in Shizuoka, having gone behind to Kenki Fukuoka’s 59th-minute try, and his sense was that Japan “suffocated” Ireland’s attempts to attack.
“Our discipline let us down as well,” said Carbery. “We were in good parts of the pitch but dropped the ball or [conceded] a penalty here and there.
“I suppose discipline killed us today. We let them impose their attacking game on us. We didn’t go after them and in attack, we weren’t able to adapt to what they threw at us.”
Carbery rejected the idea that Ireland had badly missed key playmaker Johnny Sexton in this defeat, instead underlining that the shortcomings had been across the matchday 23.
“As a collective, we let ourselves down. When the going got tough, we should have come together but we didn’t and lost a few moments. We need to come together and try and win the next moment.”
Ireland now face into a five-day turnaround before facing Russia in Kobe on Thursday, with Schmidt set to make wholesale changes for that third pool clash.
Schmidt’s men will likely need bonus-point wins against the Russians and Samoa in their final two pool games, which could still see them top Pool A depending on how Japan follow-up on this result.
Carbery is convinced Ireland can recover from this setback to secure a World Cup quarter-final.
“We can,” said the out-half. “We just need to focus on our recovery now. It’s a five-day turnaround so we need to regroup and get as much as we can out of Russia.”
Originally published at 12.06