Ireland look a team in need of a reboot

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.

Ireland look like a side that needs to reboot. They were sloppy and predictable against the tournament’s lowest-ranked team. They failed to put as many points on them as Connacht had managed prior to the World Cup and this despite the fact that Lyn Jones’ side played 20 minutes with a player in the sinbin.

Add it to the defeat by Japan, and the manner in which that game slipped from Ireland’s grasp despite having assumed a 12-3 lead and this has been a worryingly underwhelming few weeks for a side that arrived in Japan ranked as the best in the world and appeared to have at least begun to turn a corner with that opening stroll past Scotland.

Fukuoka sounds like the ideal place to find themselves. Mention the name to anyone in Japan and they gush about the place and its surrounds but Andrew Conway doesn’t go along with the idea that this is a group of guys who need to drop everything and tune out.

“I was chatting to Garry (Ringrose) inside and he has played a good bit of rugby but he is loving it. We’re at a World Cup here now and you want to be involved in every minute of the game. It’s not about playing a game and then it’s, ‘Aw, are you going to rest us?’

“We’re here to play and to play in a World Cup. It is the pinnacle in anyone’s rugby career. We’ll definitely need a couple of days off and, in fairness the load has been spread, but Garry has probably played the most minutes out of everyone.

“But the load has been spread quite nicely. We’ll recover and get stuck in for next weekend. We’re at a World Cup here, we’re not here to rest, we’re here to be smart and recover and do the right things. But we’re mad to play rugby.”

It was a tough five days since the Shizuoka shocker. Even Conway, who can be spiky in interviews, agreed with that, but Ireland are hellbent on presenting a positive front despite the evidence that has mounted against their form and some players’ fitness this year.

Andy Farrell spoke of how teams have rebounded from worse situations in pool stages to make runs deep into past tournaments and others have advocated how losing at this point in time could even prove to be a blessing in disguise.

Conway described the loss to Japan as a blip. If only.

This is a team that has experienced a series of lows in 2019, from the opening Six Nations loss to England to the woeful defeat in Cardiff against Wales that wrapped it up, the Twickenham debacle, and then the inability to turn the tide against the hosts here last Saturday.

There have been attempts to portray negatives in a more positive light. The argument has been made that the performance against Japan wasn’t actually that bad when the review was carried out and Joe Schmidt was, incredibly, uber-positive after the Russian win.

It is impossible to know what the thought process really is within the camp. Are the coaching staff worried by the performances? And if not, then why not? As for the players, Sean Cronin is adamant they are mentally fresh and upbeat about where they are at and where they might yet go.

“It might be a surprise to ye but we are actually pretty good,” said the Leinster hooker. “Joe made a point before the game that we have been living with each other for three months now and so go out and perform like you have been living with the guy next to you for three months. We are in a good place. It is a really good mix of characters in the squad.

“I think I said last week when I was doing media that we have got a really good core of a leadership group as well. It is a good mix and lads are enjoying it. Compared to the 2015 World Cup it seems to be going quite quick and that’s always a good sign. So we’re in a good spot but it is about consistency and we just need to get better at that.”

Indeed they do.

Struggling to record five tries against a Russian side loaded with amateurs and twice down a man does not bode well for this team’s ambitions down the line. The only positive emerging from Ireland right now, aside from some individual performances, are the soundbites.