Bonus-point.

Joey Carbery left a lot of people scratching their heads this morning when he cleared straight to touch with the clock in red as Ireland trailed Japan by seven points in their Rugby World Cup pool clash.

Ireland would have had to run the length of the pitch to give themselves a chance of drawing the game, but Carbery’s kick ended any hope of Ireland getting themselves back into the game.

But head coach Joe Schmidt thinks it was the right decision, especially when you consider the position Ireland were in. Had Japan got their hands back on the ball – a score of any kind would have taken the losing bonus-point away from the men in green. And that point could be vital.

“Yeah, potentially the bonus point could be really important,” Schmidt said after the game.

“It means that we’ve got six points from our two pool games so far, Japan have got nine and Samoa have got five. So they’re the ones who’ve got points so far and you’ve got to finish in the top two.

“So, keeping that bonus point allowed us to stay in front of Samoa in the short-term and we know that Scotland will be a player and Russia will line us up in five days’ time.

“As I said, those tight turnarounds are pretty tough going and we will, I suppose, have to chase a little bit now because we want to stay within a chance of topping the pool. Certainly, we’ve got to get in the top two.”