Irish fans in mad dash to swap quarter-final tickets

Japan's defeat of Ireland in Shizuoka in Pool A threw the best-laid plans of thousands of supporters, many of them Irish, up in the air given the assumption that Joe Schmidt's side would top the group and play the runner-up from Pool B on Sunday.

Not now. Ireland's second-place finish behind the hosts has directed the Six Nations side towards a last-eight tie against New Zealand on Saturday instead and the unexpected turn of events has led to a mad scramble by many who had gambled on buying tickets for the Sunday game.