Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Ireland's Joey Carbery reveals why he kicked to touch to seal Japan's shock win last month

Japan's win over Ireland in Shizuoka has proven to be one of the moments of the tournament so far. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Joey Carbery has claimed he has no regrets about kicking the ball into touch to signal the end of last month’s shock 19-12 Ireland loss to Japan in Shizuoka.

ADVERTISEMENT

The replacement out-half received the ball inside the Ireland in-goal area with the clock in the red. However, rather than attempt to launch an attack in the hope of engineering the converted try that would have enabled Joe Schmidt’s side to grab a last-gasp draw, he decided to kick the ball into touch to leave Ireland with a losing bonus point that could yet prove crucial in the qualification race for the quarter-finals.

“I knew we had the bonus-point secured and there wasn’t too much on for us, so at the time I thought the best thing would be to kick it out,” said Carbery. “And yes, I think that was the right call. I didn’t want to do anything silly as well: maybe they could have got the ball back and taken the bonus point away from us.”

Carbery’s World Cup has yet to ignite. He almost missed the tournament with the ankle ligament injury suffered in August’s victory over Italy in Dublin but was backed by boss Joe Schmidt to shake off that blow while out in Japan. He came off the bench in the loss to host nation Japan but then aggravated his ankle issue and was a late withdrawal from last Thursday’s bonus-point win over Russia.

He now insists he is ready to strike back to top form, admitting it is time to pay back Ireland’s coaches for bringing him to the World Cup in the first place. “Hopefully I’m 100 per cent now, it has been quite a frustrating year with injuries,” said Carbery.

(Continue reading below…)

Video Spacer

“But I’m fully back now and feel back to myself as I was. So that’s a huge confidence boost for me and I suppose I can just get back out there and do what I’ve been doing.

“I suppose with the timing of the injury just before we left for Japan, and the nature of it as well, it was always going to be a bit of a frustration. But to be honest I was lucky enough even to be considered and that I did enough to get on the plane.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The coaches showed a lot of faith in me and I’m very grateful for it. I want to repay that faith now. I want to go out and do the job and show them that they weren’t wrong; that’s definitely in the back of my mind.”

– Press Association 

WATCH: The latest episode in the RugbyPass Exceptional Stories series – Jackson: Climbing Mountains – features Ed Jackson’s incredible fightback to health following a swimming pool accident

Video Spacer

 

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Pieter-Steph du Toit, The Malmesbury Missile, in conversation with Big Jim

The Antoine Dupont Interview

Ireland v New Zealand | Singapore Men's HSBC SVNS Final Highlights

New Zealand v Australia | Singapore Women's HSBC SVNS Final Highlights

Inter Services Championships | Royal Army Men v Royal Navy Men | Full Match Replay

Fresh Starts | Episode 3 | Cobus Reinach

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 11

Chasing The Sun | Series 1 Episode 1

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

E
Ed the Duck 15 hours ago
Why European rugby is in danger of death-by-monopoly

The prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…

4 Go to comments
FEATURE
FEATURE Why European rugby is in danger of death-by-monopoly Why European rugby is in danger of death-by-monopoly
Search