Control the controllables is the Joe Schmidt mantra
Joe Schmidt has urged his players not to be distracted by events elsewhere and focus on deciding their own World Cup fate with a bonus-point win over Samoa tomorrow.
Ireland’s place in the World Cup quarter-finals is in their own hands despite the September 28 defeat to host nation Japan.
Five match points for a third time in the Pool A campaign following bonus-point victories over Scotland and Russia will guarantee progress to the knockout stages without the need to worry over whether Sunday’s game between the Japanese and Scots takes place in the wake of Typhoon Hagibis or if it does, who wins.
Japan lead Pool A on 14 points, with Ireland second on 11 and Scotland a further point behind. The permutations are numerous in a group where all three could finish level on 15 points but they can also be rendered moot if Ireland rediscover their form and pull rank on the Samoans at the Hakatanomori Stadium tomorrow.
Being in control of their own destiny has been a key message for Ireland’s players all week, the head coach said yesterday after he confirmed his selection to face Samoa.
“That’s exactly what we chatted about right at the start,” Schmidt said. “For us, the next 48 hours’ build-up is our full focus.
We can’t really afford to be distracted by any other matches that may or may not be played.
"We’ve just got to make sure we get our preparation right and then the performance on the back of that preparation is as good as we can make it, to make sure that whatever destiny we do manage to attain it is including another game and we get to stay on for another week whether it’s to play the All Blacks or whether it’s to play South Africa.”
Samoa’s physicality has been a focal point for their performances and opposition video analysts alike throughout this tournament.
Given the physical toll Ireland’s final pool match of 2015 against France exacted, when Schmidt lost the services of Johnny Sexton, Paul O’Connell and Peter O’Mahony to injury for the quarter-final against Argentina, it has to be feared that tomorrow’s match has the capacity to be just as attritional.
“Any games does, I guess,” Schmidt countered. “I do think the French and ourselves were unbeaten in the pool last time and so it was very much who was going to get the top spot in the pool so that was very competitive as well. And sometimes those things they just happen the way they do.
I watched Wales and Fiji last night, Fiji had a very outside chance, mathematically, of qualifying but I think sometimes that’s when teams can be at their most dangerous, particularly the sorts of teams that have the talent such as Fiji and Samoa do.
“A guy like Tim Nanai-Williams or Alapati Leuia, those sorts of guys if they’ve got nothing to lose then they’re going to bring a game with plenty of variety and plenty of athleticism. I think (Kane) Le’aupepe was incredibly impressive in the last game, TJ Ioane, Jack Lam, Seilala Lam, their hooker as been incredible.
“So, for us, hopefully, primarily, we can get the result and the secondary factors if we come through unscathed, that would be a really successfully Saturday for us.”
