Ireland had it all after winning against Scotland last weekend but the 19-12 loss to hosts Japan has put the cat among the pigeons for the rest of the Pool with Ireland facing two games against Russia next Thursday and then Samoa the following Saturday to see can they qualify for the quarter finals of Japan 2019.

They will need at least the full 10 points from the two games to get to 16 points and then they will have to wait and see where that will leave them as Japan will now fancy their chances of winning this Pool after their composed 19-12 win.

Japan played this game at 100 miles an hour but they always play that way so the game plan would not have been a shock to Joe Schmidt and his squad. This result was not expected but let’s be honest it just shows what will happen if you don’t perform to the required levels each time you go onto the field. The result shows the romance that is sadly lacking in modern sport is still there how even if it only happens once in a blue moon.

Ireland  played the game on their terms after the opening 25 minutes and then Ireland failed to score in the final 60 minutes and no matter the opposition you will not win most games by failing to score in 60 minutes of play.

Ireland will need two absolutely massive victories over Russia and Samoa to make certain they will not be coming home early from Japan. It is up to this squad to prove the doubters wrong and show us they can perform consistently for the final two Pool games. This result is not the end of the road but one more slip means it curtains for this World Cup.

The lack of a Plan B was again a glaring issue in this game. When Ireland needed to come up with a match saving move late on they failed to convert pressure into points.

People again pointed to a lack of leadership in the crucial final 20 minutes when Japan lead by 7.

Over the last 6 years under Joe Schmidt when the game plan has gone wrong his teams have struggled to come up with a Plan B in pressure situations and throughout 2019 Ireland have been physically matched by England, Wales and in some respects by Scotland but in only one of those games against Scotland did Ireland manage to wrestle back control. Ireland beat Scotland back in March 2019, 22-10 and last week in match one of the World Cup 27-3.

Unfortunately for Ireland it still seems that when teams match Ireland physically no matter the team they will beat Ireland as Ireland struggle to change tact and play what’s in front of them. After the disappointment of 2015, we were told that injuries would not impact on the Ireland squad again and that may turn out to be the case but the unnerving thing is that this campaign may go the same way as the previous World Cups if they don’t put in two clinical performances against both Russia and Samoa. The time for action is now and no amount of excuses will cut it this time.

This squad has had its set back and now it is time to react to the defeat because all the other sides in the Pool will feel they can capitalise on Ireland’s loss yesterday. It’s Russia next up at 11.15am on Thursday morning.

Here is the XV I would select for the Russia game :

15 Andrew Conway

14 Keith Earls

13 Gary Ringrose

12 Bundee Aki

11 Jordan Larmour

10 Jonathan Sexton

9 Luke Mc Grath

8 Jordi Murphy

7 Rhys Ruddock

6 Tadgh Beirne

5 Jean Kleyn

4 Iain Henderson

3 John Ryan

2 Niall Scannell

1 Dave Kilcoyne

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16 Sean Cronin

17 Cian Healy

18 Andrew Porter

19 CJ Stander

20 Josh Van Der Flier

21 Joey Carbery

22 Jack Carty

23 Rob Kearney

 

Ireland today started there 2019 World Cup campaign with a comprehensive 27-3 win over a Scotland side that will truly wonder did they even get off the bus before the game. Ireland went into this game after winning three of four warm up games only coming a cropper against England losing heavily 57-15. England today started their campaign with a comfortable 35-3 win over Tonga.

Back to the International Stadium in Yokohama where Ireland faced the supposed stiffest test of the group against a Scotland side looking to make it to a 2^nd Semi Final after 1991. Ireland started both Andrew Conway and Jordan Larmour in the back three alongside Jacob Stockdale.

Both men started off being very shaky with Larmour off loading a ball in a tackle early on that was turned over by John Barclay and then Conway knocked on a catch but as the game wore on these two grew into the task at hand. Men like Conor Murray and his sparring partner at half back Jonathan Sexton did very well early on bringing the centre combination of Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose into play in attack and both of these men were strong in defence.

Ireland came into to today’s game with a few questions over the set piece and the non selection of Devin Toner but as has so often been the case under Joe Schmidt, Ireland had some cleaver moves lined up that saw Peter O Mahony go up for the first few line outs and then Iain Henderson took a few but they were shrewd that James Ryan only was called upon a few times as it looked likely that Scotland were set to target James Ryan as they may have felt he was the main target at line out time.

This failed to happen on so many occasions over the 80 minutes. That show’s that Ireland are being very cleaver in the video analysis room and making small tweaks to their game plans throughout the week. The performance this morning is far removed from the England game back in early August.

Some will say, it was cleaver thinking and planning in the team room and training pitch. All 23 played very well with Chris Farrell and Jack Conan being drafted in early on to replace Peter O Mahony and Bundee Aki who both failed Head Injury Assessments and will be touch and go whether they will be involved in match 2 against Japan next Saturday at 8.15am Irish time.

The Irish team will see a number of changes just to freshen things up and reintroduce a few men like Keith Earls, Rob Kearney and Robbie Henshaw if they are deemed fit to join in over the next few days. The show moves onto to face hosts Japan. The World Cup has started in strong winning fashion and they will hope to continue that winning form next week against Japan.

Here is the XV I would select to face Japan next week….

15 Andrew Conway

14 Keith Earls

13 Garry Ringrose

12 Chris Farrell

11 Jacob Stockdale

10 Jonathan Sexton

9 Conor Murray

8 Jack Conan

7 Josh Van Der Flier

6 CJ Stander

5 James Ryan

4 Iain Henderson

3 Tadgh Furlong

2 Rory Best

1 Cian Healy

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16 Sean Cronin

17 Dave Kilcoyne

18 Andrew Porter

19 Tadgh Beirne

20 Rhys Ruddock

21 Luke Mc Grath

22 Jack Carty

23 Robbie Henshaw