Moments like these will draw us closer, says try-scorer Garry

Garry Ringrose believes Ireland’s shock defeat to Japan can act as the catalyst for a successful assault on the knockout stages.

The 2018 Grand Slam winner believes Ireland have to learn from the mistakes which led to them losing their grip on a contest in which they had carved out a 12-3 lead inside 20 minutes only to go scoreless for the remaining hour and lose 19-12 on a historic night in Shizuoka.

Ringrose scored the opening try on Saturday, catching a Jack Carty crossfield kick to touch down in the 13th minute with Rob Kearney adding a second before it all went awry for Ireland.

Yet the centre is adamant the defeat will not knock Ireland’s confidence going into their final two Pool A games as they aim to secure the bonus-point victories over Russia and Samoa needed to assure progress to the quarter-finals.

“Over the last couple of years, I’ve had some incredible highs and been involved in some lows. I wouldn’t necessarily buy into the cliche of ‘you learn from defeat’ because I think you learn after every game,” Ringrose said. “But it will be the same now. It’s about looking back and learning how we can do certain things better, how we can execute better, how we can react and adapt to what they throw at us better. That’s on an individual level.

“But then collectively as well, we know we could be better. We lose a game but it’s not going to knock us off too much what we believe in and what we believe we’re capable of as a squad. Moments like these can draw us closer together and motivate us a little bit more...well it’s going to have to...”

As far as Ringrose’s career lows go, the 24-year-old admitted Saturday’s upset was “definitely up there”.

“It is bitterly disappointing. We all invest so much time collectively and individually, into going out there to win. So the effort is definitely there and the commitment is there, but we’ll have to look harder at ourselves as to where we can improve.”

As to the reasons for a sloppy and potentially costly Ireland performance, Ringrose added: “I think they put us under pressure in the right areas and our indiscipline let them keep building into the game. And then when they did take the lead they defended incredibly well and made it difficult for us to score. We knew going into the game, we didn’t underestimate in any way how they were going to perform because we knew the quality was there and they didn’t disappoint in how they played. They definitely got momentum into the game and part of that was maybe down to us not executing. Not necessarily with the set-piece but across the backs we could have been better in certain areas. And then ill-discipline gives them access into the game and allows them to build momentum, which they did.

“I still think, you know, we’ll need to look back, there are always swings, and ebbs and flows in games, of momentum. And we could have reacted better in certain circumstances. And I think we did. When they did get a foothold in the game we were able to hold them out. But ultimately it proved too much. You really have to raise your games for these games, and them being the host, they weren’t giving an inch in any area of the game, they were scrambling really well for each other.

“We did as well at times, that intercept at the end, for Keith Earls to get back and make that tackle just shows how much it means to us.

“So the motivation and effort is there, we just have to look back and fix up a couple of things to try and win in five days’ time.”