The IRFU have called on journalist Stephen Jones to withdraw allegations he made about them in an article published on Sunday.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Jones claimed that Ireland and New Zealand were opposed to the rearranging of the Scotland versus Japan fixture at the Rugby World Cup.
Should the game have been cancelled, both teams would have been awarded two points and Scotland would have been eliminated.
A statement from the IRFU has labelled the claim 'completely false.'
The statement by Stephen Jones in today’s edition of The Sunday Times (October 13, 2019) referring to The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) being ‘vehemently opposed’ to any rearrangement of the Scotland v Japan Rugby World Cup fixture is completely false and the inference within the article that The IRFU made representations to World Rugby on the matter is totally without foundation.
The Irish Rugby Football Union calls on Stephen Jones to immediately withdraw this scurrilous and untrue allegation.
Ireland have already qualified for the final eight on sixteen points.
If Japan can beat Scotland later today, they will progress top of the pool to set up a tie against South Africa. Scotland are on 10 points currently, four behind Japan. Therefore, Gregor Townsend's side need to ensure they win and deny Japan a bonus point or win with a bonus point.
