AS CAREER DISAPPOINTMENTS go, picking up an early red card on his return to face South Africa is the nadir for CJ Stander and perhaps always will be.
But a World Cup loss to Japan comes close.
If there is a silver lining to be found from the shock in Shizuoka, then it’s the fact that defeat does not spell the end of Ireland’s World Cup.
The prospect of facing New Zealand or the Springboks in the quarter-final is a choose-your-poison call. After a humbling defeat, Ireland can at least aim to make improvements and ramp up towards a defining challenge in the knockout round – assuming they make it that far and don’t completely fly off the rails.
“There’s a few places we can fix-up,” said Stander echoing the key points being made across the squad since the loss to Jamie Joseph’s side.
Fine margins, execution rates and learnings; the usual language of the beaten rugby team is flowing freely because there is no sense in them hitting the panic button. Not when they can still put themselves in a battle with the ‘Boks or the All Blacks.
The Munster man wasn’t willing to lean on the referee or humidity – “it was worse in the Scotland game” – as factors in the loss. So when asked what the ‘learnings’ had been, Stander said.
“Just to look after the ball, make sure we stick with our process. When we set down the attack plan, make sure we back what we’re doing. And just don’t give other teams ‘ins’ in what we do.
We stuck with the process (against Japan), it’s just consistency. We drive ourselves with high standards but we lost a few moments here and there. They got back into the game, they didn’t really make mistakes and they capitalised every time we made a mistake.”
“Just look after the ball a bit more and use opportunities. Japan played well, put us under pressure and kept building on that pressure during the game, especially coming into the second half.”
Excellence is a difficult thing to attain consistently, but Ireland have shown an alarming drop-off in standards from one game to the next in 2019.
While the Six Nations brought moments of brilliance from Joe Schmidt’s team and wins over France and Scotland suggested that they were ready to click in World Cup year, the tournament was book-ended by dispiriting drubbings at the hands of England and Wales.
Russia will be no barometer of how good this Ireland team can be, but Thursday’s clash could reveal a lot about the mindset of the former world number one side.
Though Stander has already started back-t0-back games in Japan. He says he is excited to grab a third cap in the space of 11 days.
With Tadhg Beirne likely needed to start in the second row and Jordi Murphy getting limited training minutes before facing Russia, at least one of Ireland’s first-choice back row may well start a third Test in the space of 11 days. Stander is more than happy to grab a third World Cup cap.
“It’s the excitement of the World Cup. This is what you want to do when you’re growing up – be part of a World Cup.
“So yes, recovery-wise we’re being looked after really well. We’ve got training tomorrow, so we’ve got to make sure the bodies are ready. So if I’m selected I’m good to go again.”
Eoin Toolan joins Murray Kinsella in Japan to review Ireland’s shock defeat to the hosts at the Rugby World Cup.
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