RUGBY
Carbery’s World Cup debut is one to forget as Ireland fall to shock defeat
By Daire Walsh
IRELAND’S Rugby World Cup campaign hit the skids at Shizuoka Stadium in Fukuroi on Saturday as they fell to a shock Pool A defeat against host nation Japan.
Following an utterly comprehensive 27-3 triumph over Scotland six days earlier, Joe Schmidt’s men were once again expected to flex their Tier One muscles and emerge with a second consecutive win at the tournament. Given how much Japan had struggled to shake off group minnows Russia last Friday week, a repeat of their heroic clash with South Africa from four years ago appeared unlikely on paper.
While nothing could quite match that affair for sheer drama, Jamie Joseph’s Oriental outfit were comprehensive victors in the end. Indeed, Keith Earls needed to produce a last-ditch recovery tackle to ensure that Ireland came away with a losing bonus point in a 19-12 reversal.
This means that – should the maximum reward be garnered out of their subsequent encounters with Russia and Samoa – they are guaranteed to finish ahead of Scotland in the pool rankings. A Scotland win at the expense of Japan could still lead to Ireland securing top spot – though Gregor Townsend’s side will need to improve massively from the abysmal display they produced against their Celtic rivals.
While the Irish pack remained intact for the second game running, there was significant surgery to the back-line. Rob Kearney and Keith Earls returned to the fold, with both Andrew Conway and Jordan Larmour missing out on this occasion.
Additionally, Chris Farrell deputised for Bundee Aki – having replaced the Connacht centre on the first-quarter mark in the Scotland game. Eadestown’s Tadhg Beirne was once again named on the bench, but on this occasion he was joined by fit-again Athy native Joey Carbery.
The initial signs had been bright for Ireland with the vision of Jack Carty – in just his second start at test level – helping Garry Ringrose and Rob Kearney to cross the Japanese whitewash. Yet, Japan were not prepared to go with the form book and gradually grew in confidence as the half progressed.
Fly-half Yu Tamura ended the opening period with nine points to his name, leaving the hosts just three points in arrears (12-9). Despite the alarm bells that were beginning to appear in the second-quarter, an Irish backlash was anticipated on the restart.
Japan had other ideas, however, and eventually made their domination of both possession and territory count on the scoreboard. After a defensive mishap between CJ Stander and Chris Farrell handed them the initiative, Kenki Fukuoka crossed over for their first and only try of the contest.
Up until this point, Dave Kilcoyne and Rhys Ruddock were the only players to be introduced off the replacements bench. But with the prospect of a fourth loss in 2019 starting to loom large, the cavalry was inevitably called upon.
Carbery and Beirne assumed the positions previously occupied by Carty and Iain Henderson. The Munster duo got their hands on plenty of ball during their time on the pitch, but another Tamura penalty subsequently sealed a famous Japanese win.