Ireland booked their place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with a performance of brutal directness, running in 7 tries and delighting the thousands of Irish fans who have flown in for the business end of the competition. This most comprehensive of victories means that the permutations in this, the most fascinating and complicated pool, are narrowing. In order to join Ireland in the quarters, Scotland need to beat Japan, either collecting four match points to zero by the hosts, or five match points to Japan’s one. Two losing bonuses by Japan – for four tries and losing by seven or less - would see them through. Ireland know that their quarter-final opponents will have an advantage in preparation time and should be fresher for…

Source: The Times October 12, 2019 12:56 UTC