Murray Kinsella reports from St. George’s Park
MOST OF US will remember where we were when Japan pulled off the greatest upset in the history of Test rugby.
Down in the media working room of the Millennium Stadium there was the loudest cheer of the day as Karne Hesketh powered into the left corner on the end of a remarkable passage of Japanese attack.
Ireland had already vacated the Cardiff city centre venue at that stage, but they tuned in for the closing stages of an unforgettable win for Eddie Jones’ men.
“We watched maybe the last 20 to 25 minutes, a big victory for Japan and probably the greatest upset in the history of the game,” said Johnny Sexton at Ireland’s base in St. George’s Park this evening.
“It was great, and it made our performance and our result a lot better, seeing a team like Japan beating South Africa. We obviously could have been on the end of something similar a couple of hours earlier.”
No one truly expected the Japanese to be successful, although we’ve since seen a few betting dockets from the insightful few who took a punt. It was an eye-opening result for the World Cup’s Tier 1 nations, Ireland included.
It’s given the sides that are the so-called minnows a boost to see Japan do that,” said Sexton. “You saw Uruguay do that against Wales, they put it to them for the first 20 minutes and made life difficult for them.
“Argentina were obviously making life tough for New Zealand too. It gives everyone a boost to know anything can happen. And it’s given us an alarm call I suppose.”
Ireland emphatically managed to avoid any scares in their own opener against Canada yesterday, scoring seven tries and showing signs of an increased sharpness, even if there were errors across the performance too.
After the defeats to Wales and England in the World Cup warm-ups, this was considerably better from Ireland. Sexton was man of the match with an excellent 55-minute showing at out-half, a promising sign ahead of greater tests.
“I felt a lot better at the weekend,” said Sexton. “We’re all starting to get our match sharpness and match fitness and that’s what we want at this time now. There were some mistakes, but some good things too.
“We’re just happy that we got the four tries (i.e. a bonus point), that was the most important thing after we secured the victory. We know there’s a lot to work on for some big tests ahead, and that’s the attitude we have to take.”
Sexton and his Ireland teammates arrived in St. George’s Park this evening for five days of training in world-class facilities and peaceful surroundings.
The site is completely isolated in the English countryside – the English FA are apparently set to begin work on a golf course to occupy their footballers during camps – but Sexton is pleased to be facing into a week of almost uninterrupted training.
“It’s ideal from a preparation for a match point of view, you couldn’t ask for anything better,” said Sexton. “From a preparation point of view it’s unreal and that’s what we want.”
Ireland will keep the heads down and focus turned on, wary of not being the next major side to suffer a shock.
