Stunning Japanese ambush was three years in the making... and Ireland were only thinking about the fixture since Monday
Jamie Joseph revealed Japan spent three years plotting their stunning 19-12 dismantling of Ireland in Shizuoka. The Brave Blossoms boss hailed one of the World Cup’s greatest ever upsets by insisting it was a triumphant game plan painstakingly distilled and refined.
Japan’s Kiwi boss claimed Ireland, in contrast, had only been working on this match for one week and paid the price. Former Highlanders boss Joseph insisted Ireland had not disrespected Japan, but was adamant that disparity in preparation had proved pivotal.
“There was a lot of relief around what we were able to do,” said Joseph. “We have been preparing for this game for a hell of a lot longer than the Irish have. We’ve been focusing on today for the last year at least, and probably subconsciously the last three years. And Ireland have been thinking about it since Monday. So we just felt we had to execute our plan.”
Asked if Ireland’s limited direct preparation to face Japan showed a lack of respect, Joseph replied: “Not at all, they are a great rugby team, they played last week and have had a shorter turnaround. “They’ve played a lot of Test matches recently, they are professional athletes. Our preparation window for the World Cup has been a little different, we’ve been training a hell of a lot.”
Japan set their home World Cup alight by dumping Ireland on their backsides in serious style at the Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa. Joseph’s men blitzed Ireland in all areas, recovering from a 12-3 deficit to storm to a victory that left the raucous home crowd in raptures.
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This was a triumph every inch as impressive as Japan’s last-gasp 34-32 victory over South Africa in Brighton at the last World Cup in 2015. Wing Kenki Fukuoka sealed the result, haring into the left corner to leave Ireland outgunned and outplayed, with early tries for Garry Ringrose and Rob Kearney mere footnotes on the scoring charts.
Hooker Shota Horie led from the front in an all-court performance for the hosts, leaving Joseph purring at his continually developing game. “He’s a quality rugby player and this year he’s been in great form,” said Joseph. “Physically, set-piece, it’s something that wasn’t high on his priority list.
“He was renowned for his skill-set but now he can do both loose work and tight. He can throw out the back passes, he can jackal like a flanker but he can also scrummage powerfully and put in little kicks and things like that. I think he’s the ultimate tight forward, and he’s a big reason why we performed tonight.”
Disaster for Ireland as too many of their players fall below the necessary standard against Japan
https://t.co/l0W6NSXNMr— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 28, 2019
Ireland boss Schmidt was left to praise the winners and admit his side must now tend their sizeable wounds. “I’d like to first of all congratulate the Japanese team for the energy, the intensity, the skill they brought to the game tonight,” said Schmidt. “They are a big team, they played big and they were very difficult to contain.
“I felt we probably controlled the first quarter reasonably well, to go 12-3 up with two tries scored. It’s probably exactly what we’d asked for, but the longer the game went the more oxygen they got from penalties and from the skill that they showed and you’ve got to commend them for that.
“It’s not the first time we’ve seen them do it, it’s not a surprise to us that they were incredibly tough to beat. The quality even of Michael Leitch coming off the bench – I thought he really added value. Yu Tamura and (Timothy) Lafaele, I thought they got a bit of an armchair ride.
“We got penalised for a few offsides and then we became hesitant. Once we became hesitant we couldn’t really put the same pressure on them as they were putting on us – and they got a real roll on.”
WATCH: Joe Schmidt and Rory Best react after Ireland lost to World Cup hosts Japan
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments