Eddie Jones believes Japan were in a position to beat Ireland after a strong first half performance in Aviva Stadium. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game in the first half. 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.

Source: The Irish Times November 08, 2025 18:54 UTC