Joe Schmidt is hoping Ireland’s long lead-in to their final pool game will help his team put in the performance tomorrow that will take them into the World Cup quarter-finals.

In his daily dispatch, Donal talks about the wider repercussions of game cancellations in the face of typhoon Hagibis.

Robbie Henshaw will belatedly begin his 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign against Samoa on Saturday after Ireland named a team close to full strength in their bid to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Jacob Stockdale is not just refusing to press the panic button on Ireland’s attack, the wing is relishing the opportunity to right some wrongs against Samoa on Saturday.

Backs against the wall and needing a bonus-point win over Samoa to stay in this World Cup, Ireland have been urged to back their skills and go after the Pacific Islanders here on Saturday.

In the perfect world, the one the squad envisioned on the flight out to Japan, Ireland would already have their slot booked in the quarter-final by this stage.

Around the same time that Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe was breaking down the facts and figures of his Budget, the South Africans were crunching numbers and opponents of their own when hammering Canada 66-7 in Kobe.

Andy Farrell would have happily sacrificed a heavier deficit in the points difference column in exchange for a victory over Japan but if Ireland can return to form this Saturday it will have meant the lessons of that shock defeat have been learned.

Tadhg Beirne isn’t about to start fretting over Typhoon Hagibis and its progress through the Pacific.

Bodies and minds rested after a weekend off in Fukuoka, Ireland’s players return to work today looking for the elusive spark that could propel them past Samoa and onto a World Cup quarter-final with confidence renewed.

It is not just sumo that occupies the hearts and minds of Japanese sports fans, as this year’s Rugby World Cup is proving on a rapidly increasing basis.

Frustrated, inconsistent and more susceptible to upsets than their top-tier rivals.

We've been in Japan for three weeks and yet the cheek-by-jowl nature of this country continues to slap you in the face.

And breathe... Nine days will separate yesterday’s highly unsatisfactory defeat of Russia in Kobe and Ireland’s final pool match, against Samoa in Fukuoka, and the sense from the outside looking in is of a squad that should relish the weekend break to come and the chance to switch off from rugby for a bit.

As an organising body, World Rugby haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory in this tournament to date.

60 second on-the-whistle report from Kobe as Ireland secure bonus-point victory over Russia

A moment, please, to think of the poor old referee today.

World Rugby’s admission that match officials made several incorrect decisions against Ireland in their defeat to Japan has led Joe Schmidt to urge his players to be cautious.

Patience has been paramount for John Ryan with Ireland.

Connacht full-back Tiernan O’Halloran said they were shocked how unfit Russia were when they played them in Moscow in their final World Cup warm-up match.

There is no talk of winning or losing in the Irish or the Russian camps this week. Nobody doubts which way the result will fall when they meet in Kobe tomorrow. This game will be about so much more than the numbers beside each nation’s name at the final whistle.

What goes on tour comes off on tour. That’s the mantra now after yesterday’s visit to a traditional Japanese onsen, or hot spring to you and me, by a troop of the Irish media corp and our Scottish brethren. Yep, over a dozen pasty westerners walking about naked in a giant bathing complex.

Ireland may pride themselves on being next-job focused but Saturday’s shock defeat to Japan still looms large, even with the Pool A clash against Russia just two days away.

Not that Ireland haven’t enough to be getting on with, but there was little evidence in Scotland’s 34-0 defeat of Samoa in Kobe today that Gregor Townsend’s men are ready to rain on Japan’s World Cup parade come their decisive Pool A clash at the World Cup on Sunday October 13th.

Ireland’s plans to stage an open training session with Japanese Top League side Kobelco Steelers on Tuesday have been brought to a halt by local World Cup organisers.

What goes on tour comes off on tour. That's the mantra now after yesterday's visit to a traditional Japanese onsen, or hot spring to you and me.

Garry Ringrose could be pressed into a third successive World Cup start this Thursday after Ireland’s midfield stocks were reduced by a concussion for Chris Farrell.

In Joe we trust.

Ireland won’t make any knee-jerk decisions following their shock World Cup defeat to Japan as the camp looks to quickly get their Pool A campaign back on track following the mother of all rugby upsets.

Joey Carbery admitted Ireland “let ourselves down” as they succumbed to one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history, losing 19-12 to hosts Japan on Saturday.

Simon Lewis reports from Shizuoka

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.

Simon Lewis reports from Yokohama.

Hard to believe four years have elapsed since Ireland’s painful World Cup quarter final exit at the hands of Argentina in Cardiff. As Joe Schmidt enters the twilight of his spectacularly successful reign at the helm of Irish rugby, the next six weeks will shape the epilogue of a brilliant period for Irish rugby.

It’s easy to forget just how big this weekend will be for the players.

It’s not often that anecdote is backed up by hard scientific fact, but those who claim that Irish beef is in a class of its own are on to something.

Stop the presses! We have breaking moos from Limerick.

The World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction in March must agree on an updated framework for action to mitigate human and material loss, says Margareta Wahlström

Forget the financial cost, the psychological impact of the disasters that have hit Japan will be the hardest thing to deal with, writes Bill Emmott

THE catastrophe that has engulfed Japan could also make or break its prime minister, Naoto Kan.

One of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded has triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific ocean.

Japan has been hit by at least 19 aftershocks, most of them of more than magnitude 6.0, after a huge earthquake ripped across the country today bringing devastation to a wide area and prompting fears of a massive death toll.

NEARLY 200 Japanese centenarians are missing, officials said yesterday, with the total likely to rise amid a nationwide search after the discovery of the 30-year-old corpse of a man registered as aged 111.