Misfiring Ireland thank lucky stars

It’s not the job of the Ireland team to sell this Rugby World Cup but Tom Tierney’s side are doing more than anyone to make the wider public, both here and abroad, sit up and take notice of events at Belfield.

Fortunate in the extreme to claim a two-point win last Wednesday against an Australian side with much more affinity to the sevens game, the hosts followed it up last night with a victory plucked from the jaws of defeat and ignominy against an unlikely tormentor.

Down 14-0 at the break after an error-strewn first-half, the Irish then went and lost centre Katie Fitzhenry to a yellow card three minutes after the restart. Japan, two years on from their male side’s defeat of South Africa in Brighton, looked set to create another shock.