#RWC2019 Newsletter: A day for proverbs as Sexton gets ready to lead Ireland against Russia

“I no naka no kawazu, taikai wo sirazu.”

Today, at the Rugby World Cup, we’re swimming in Kieran Shannon's stew of Japanese proverbs.

“A frog in a well never knows the vast ocean,” is the gist of that one.

“Saru mo ki kara ochiru,” was the next warning. Even a monkey can fall from a tree.

Though Kieran turned to Kobe Bryant for his final piece of advice, defining mental toughness as “not getting too high or too low but staying at an even keel”.

All of which leads him to conclude that Ireland who looked, as the great sage Paul Merson would put it, like a fish up a tree against Japan, can still make waves at this World Cup.

Donal Lenihan is of similar mind. Though in his Wednesday column he warns Joe Schmidt faces the biggest challenge of his coaching career in the next fortnight.

“There is always a point on tour when a squad faces a crisis,” Donal said. “How the players and management react to that is crucial. The response to the mauling Ireland received in Twickenham last month suggests that the character and resilience is there to fashion a recovery.”

In the latest of Donal’s vlogs from Kobe, he discusses the city, Johnny Sexton's captaincy and the impact the stadium's roof being closed will have.

Brendan O’Brien expands on those themes, examining how Sexton has grown as a leader from the man wary Racing 92 teammates once likened to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Relations with referees aside, Sexton may just have the record books in his sights tomorrow morning against Russia. With 54 points in nine World Cup appearances, he lies fourth in Ireland’s points-scoring table at the tournament behind Ralph Keyes (68), David Humphreys (70) and Ronan O'Gara (93). All things going to plan, he may only have ROG in front of him come tomorrow afternoon.

Brendan has also been baking in the Kobe sweatbox where tomorrow morning’s clash with Russia will be played.

With the roof shut, 26 degree heat, and over 80% humidity, Andy Farrell called on the insight of his son Owen, who experienced the conditions here when England played USA.

“Because of the humidity in the stadium the ground sweats as well,” said Farrell Sr, flagging up testing times for ball handling.

In today’s action, there were the expected cruises for France and New Zealand.

Check out the latest results and standings in our live data hub.

Meanwhile, the temperature is rising ahead of Saturday’s pivotal Pool C meeting, and relations between England and Argentina appear as warm as ever.

England hooker Jamie George has bitten back at former Pumas captain Agustin Creevy who derided the “boring” rugby played by Eddie Jones’ side and advised them to be ready for a “war”.

“I don’t think we play boring rugby,” George said. “I’m not overly surprised that he’s tried to say that, but he’s entitled to his opinion and hopefully we’ll prove him wrong on Saturday. “I’m sure he’s just trying to rattle us a bit. He’s more than welcome to try.”

That's all for today. Read a full preview of the clash with Russia in Thursday’s print edition. And tune in after the game when Donal Lenihan will bring you his reaction from the stadium.

Swim prudently in that vast ocean, green frog.

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