Ireland suffered one of the biggest upsets in Rugby World Cup history as Japan repeated their Brighton miracle against South Africa on home soil to leave Joe Schmidt’s men stunned at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa.
Just as the Brave Blossoms defeated the Springboks in England four years ago to send shockwaves through the tournament, they were full value for their Pool A victory which blows the group wide open once again. Ireland were kept scoreless for an hour after an early two-try burst as they lost their way in a fevered atmosphere.
Tries from Garry Ringrose and Rob Kearney inside 20 minutes, the second converted by Jack Carty, were insufficient insurance for a side which had hammered Scotland 27-3 six days earlier.
Japan fly-half Yo Tomura capitalised on sloppy inaccuracies from the Irish to leave the hosts trailing just 12-9 at half-time and when replacement wing Kenki Fukoaka scored a well-worked try just before the hour, the Brave Blossoms sniffed the Tier-One blood of the rudderless Irish.
Tomura converted and then added a late penalty, Ireland’s desperate search for a response only creating more problems as the mistakes piled up on a terrible day for their hopes of safe passage to the quarter-finals.
Schmidt’s men must now beat Russia in Kobe in five days and then Samoa in Fukoaka nine days later and hope either Japan or Scotland slip up in their remaining games, their pool rivals set to meet in the final round of the pool schedule. Japan will not worry about that just yet, however. They were too busy getting the deserved adulation of the home crowd on an epic night in Shizuoka.
More to follow
JAPAN: R Yamanaka (K Fukoaka, 50); K Matsushima, T Lafaele, R Nakamura, L Lemeki; Y Tamura, Y Nagare (F Tanaka, 56); K Inagaki (I Nakajima, 63), S Horie, J Koo (A Ai Valu, 54; L Thompson (W van der Walt, 63), J Moore; K Himeno, P Labuschagne - captain, A Mafi (M Leitch, 20).
Replacements not used: A Sakate, R Matsuda.
IRELAND: R Kearney (L McGrath, 68 - HIA); K Earls, G Ringrose, C Farrell (J Larmour, 51), J Stockdale; J Carty (J Carbery, 61), C Murray; C Healy (D Kilcoyne, 45), R Best - captain (S Cronin, 61), T Furlong (A Porter, 45-55 - HIA & 61); I Henderson (T Beirne, 65), James Ryan; P O’Mahony (R Ruddock, 55), J van der Flier, CJ Stander.
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
