IRELAND CAPTAIN RORY Best admitted that the best team won after Japan recorded a sensational 19-12 win against Ireland in Shizuoka.

Joe Schmidt’s side took the lead thanks to two first half tries from Garry Ringrose and Rob Kearney, but Japan grew into the game and caused Ireland a host of problems in the second half, fighting back to claim a famous win. 

Best said that Ireland will be hugely disappointed with aspects of their game after a disjointed display.

“We came in with a gameplan and we felt we were really prepared, but look, give credit to that team. They played really well,” Best said.

“We made a few mistakes, a few unforced errors, we were on the wrong side of the penalty count. I think Japan played really, really well and they posed a lot of questions to us. Unfortunately we couldn’t come up with the right answers.”

Ireland now face a five-day turnaround before playing Russia, with the result throwing Group A wide open. Japan top the group on nine points, with Ireland in second place on six points.

“Like I say we knew how tough this was going to be. When you play the host team it is always tough,” Best added.

“I think we didn’t start exactly how we wanted but we got on the right side of the scoreboard, and then we just let them play, and when you let a team like that play you can sometimes be chasing shadows.

“We are very, very disappointed but at the same time you have to give credit to Japan. They attacked us minute after minute. We’ll not be happy with how we played but we’ll have to dust ourselves down and get better.”