'When you lose a game and go from being supposedly contenders in the first game to useless in the second game it's always going to affect the confidence.'
Rory Best has conceded Ireland’s confidence has been dented by the shock loss to Japan – but insisted Joe Schmidt’s men are still “very assured” of how to hit back to World Cup success.
Ireland ground to a patchy 35-0 bonus-point win over lowly Russia on Thursday, leaving victory over Samoa standing between Joe Schmidt’s team and the World Cup quarter-finals.
Ireland will face on Samoa on Saturday, October 12, with the squad intent on taking full advantage of a rare fallow weekend to rest and recuperate – then sharpen up.
“I think when you lose a game and go from being supposedly contenders in the first game to useless in the second game it’s always going to affect the confidence a little bit,” said Best.
“But we bounce back well, and this group understands what we need to do to play well.
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“We understand our core values, and we know we weren’t as good in those areas against Japan.
“But you look back at the warm-up game in England and then the two games against Wales and then Scotland here; we felt we were improving.
“Sometimes you’ve got to take it on the chin and say we didn’t play as well as we can, Japan played very well and put us under pressure.
“But in terms of confidence in the group we’re still very assured of what we’re capable of and how we get there.
“Our destiny is still in own hands. So we’re there and thereabouts, but we would have expected to be in a better place after the three games.
“We would have expected to win the three games but that hasn’t happened.
“We know a bonus-point win will guarantee our place in the quarter-finals.
“We were always here to make the quarter-finals, we’ve made no secret of that and that’s what it comes down to now.
“We started the Japan game really well, 12-3 it’s not a place where we expect to lose a game from.
“Traditionally when we get ahead we’re a hard team to stop. But we made a few uncharacteristic mistakes, so there’s a lot we need to work on.
“We have time to reflect a little now and it’s very, very rare to have a weekend with no game, so it’s really important we utilise that.”
Johnny Sexton captained Ireland for the first time in the five-try win over Russia, the British and Irish Lions fly-half withdrawn at half-time as a precaution.
Sexton had declared himself fit to take on Russia after missing Ireland’s shock loss to Japan with a thigh complaint.https://t.co/n56PHKgy8H
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 3, 2019
World Cup skipper Best hailed Sexton’s leadership qualities, insisting that element of the 34-year-old’s game is sometimes underestimated.
“I think Johnny is a fantastic captain; the problem when you get somebody as good as Johnny the tendency sometimes is to focus on some of the negatives,” said Best, of Sexton.
“But if you look at the way he’s led Leinster, not a lot’s been said about how successful they were last year.
“A lot’s been said about that game in Thomond Park and focused on that. But whenever you see the way Leinster play, you see that they want to play for him.
“And I think the sign of a really good captain is that you get a sense that people want to play under you.
“I think you got that from Leinster last season, and you got that from the boys last night.
“He’s definitely maturing into somebody who understands the difference between being a quality player and being a quality captain.
“And I thought he did really well, I thought he had a really strong 40 minutes, not just as a player but also as a captain last night.
“And there’s no hiding away from the fact that he’s a big, big leader in this group.”
It wasn’t the most convincing win, but Joe Schmidt was still content with how his charges performed against Russia:
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments