Eddie Jones believes Japan were in a position to beat Ireland after a strong first half performance in Aviva Stadium. Ireland closed the half 17-10 ahead.
“It was obviously disappointing,” said Eddie Jones. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game in the first half. We probably went into half time with a little bit of momentum.”
Ulster winger Jacob Stockdale was shown a yellow card at the end of the first half after a head-on-head collision. It meant that Ireland would begin the second half a man down.
“Ireland had Stockdale in the bin so we needed to capitalise on the in the first 10 minutes and put some real pressure on Ireland, particularly with Ireland playing at home,” said Jones.
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“There was a lot of pressure on Ireland but we didn’t take advantage of the sin bin and whether we got disappointed in the game we faded badly in the last 30 minutes. We gave Ireland a lot of ball in good positions and they looked good.”
Jones also bemoaned the referee Gianluca Gnecchi’s interpretation of knock-on. After half an hour backrow Nick Timoney ran in for an Irish try after the Japanese team seemed to freeze in expectation of a knock-on.
“The try the seven [Timoney] scored we just stopped, anticipating the referee was going to call a knock on,” said Jones. “I think there’s an interesting interpretation of knock on these days. It used to be ball going forward. Now it depends on which direction you are pointing.
“Anyway, that’s our fault. We need to be more observant in the game. Don’t switch off. That’s the thing in the end that cost us most today.”
