Iain Henderson, one of the leading performers against Scotland, was make his 50th international appearance as Ireland aim for their second Rugby World Cup win against host nation Japan in Shizuoka.
RUGBY WORLD CUP – POOL A: Saturday, September 28
JAPAN (2nd) v IRELAND (1st), Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, 4.15pm local time/8.15am Irish time (live eir Sport 1/RTÉ 2/UTV/ITV/RTÉ Radio 1/BBC Radio Ulster/BBC Radio 5 Live/IRFU Live Blog)
Team News: There are four changes to the Ireland team for the Pool A top of the table clash with the tournament hosts. Rob Kearney and Keith Earls, who is Ireland’s record World Cup try scorer with eight tries, both return to the back-three alongside Jacob Stockdale.
Chris Farrell, a first half replacement during the 27-3 bonus point victory over Scotland, starts this time around, combining in the centre with Garry Ringrose. Connacht’s Jack Carty joins Conor Murray at half-back for his second start at Test level.
Rory Best captains Ireland for the 36th time, going level with Keith Wood on the all-time list. For his 100th start for his country, Best leads an unchanged pack which includes his Ulster colleague Henderson who hits the half-century mark, almost seven years on from his debut against South Africa.
Peter O’Mahony, who has come through head injury assessments two and three, resumes in the back row alongside Josh van der Flier and CJ Stander, the Mastercard player-of-the-match from the first round clash with Scotland in Yokohama.
Joey Carbery is poised to make his Rugby World Cup debut off the bench, having shaken off an ankle injury. Sean Cronin and Rhys Ruddock are also set for their first appearances of the tournament in Japan, while fellow replacements Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Tadhg Beirne, Luke McGrath and Jordan Larmour all saw action against the Scots.
Speaking at the team announcement press conference, Schmidt said: “We wanted to give Jack Carty as much certainty as possible so we told him on Tuesday he would be starting (against Japan) so he could get his head around it.
“He came on and played really well against Scotland. He cleared our lines really well a couple of times when we had to come out of our 22. The distance of his angled kicks was spot on.
“He’s very calm, he doesn’t get ruffled easily. He doesn’t get distracted by an error he might make or distracted by people trying to put pressure on him. He stays in the zone incredibly well.
“Johnny (Sexton) is never happy about being left out. He is always looking to play but he had a good hit-out against Scotland. He got a little bit of mileage under his belt there. We thought about putting him on the bench, but we’ve got a lot of time for Joey Carbery. He was fit and ready for Scotland so we want to get him involved.”
He added: “At the last World Cup there were some players who didn’t play a lot and then suddenly they were required for the quarter-final – and maybe they didn’t have the confidence we would have liked them to have.
“We have committed in the last few years to making a decision earlier in the week in some positions and saying, ‘look, this is going to be your game. Step up and take ownership’.
“Hopefully it will be a cohesive performance because it will have to be. Japan are really well prepared. They’ve had something like 180 to 200 days in camp this year. A number of them played for the Sunwolves together and then on top of that, they’ve got a couple of real quality operators to come in with the likes of Amanaki Mafi.
“They’ve got guys who can change it up, they’ve got guys who have spent a lot of time together. I don’t think they’ll be intimidated by the occasion – they will be motivated hugely by it.
“They’re going to have a very vocal hometown crowd. It was great for us to play a ‘home match’ in Yokohama Stadium with ‘The Fields of Athenry’ belting out and the amount of green jerseys and support we had. I think we might be in the minority this week and they’re going to have to give us as much volume as they can.”
Meanwhile, Japan head coach Jamie Joseph has selected his team to take on Ireland, making four personnel changes to the side that opened the Rugby World Cup with a 30-10 bonus point win over Russia.
For the Shizuoka showdown this weekend, back rower Pierre ‘Lappies’ Labuschagne will captain the Brave Blossoms for only the second time in five Test appearances. He takes the captaincy reins from the benched Michael Leitch.
38-year-old lock Luke Thompson, the oldest player at this year’s Rugby World Cup, is promoted to Japan’s starting XV along with fellow forwards Jiwon Koo and Amanaki Lelei Mafi, and there is also a start at full-back for Ryohei Yamanaka.
William Tupou will play on the wing for the first time at Test level and Kazuki Himeno moves to the blindside flanker berth vacated by Leitch. The South African-born Labuschagne ran in a try in the Pool A opener against Russia, with tricky winger Kotaro Matsushima weighing in with a hat-trick.
Japan and Ireland have played each other on seven previous occasions, with the men in green holding a 100% record. Their two most recent victories came during the 2017 summer tour when Schmidt’s charges won 50-22 in Shizuoka and 35-13 in Tokyo.
Ireland Rugby World Cup Results/Fixtures
Rugby World Cup Pool A Table
JAPAN: Ryohei Yamanaka (Kobelco Steelers); Kotaro Matsushima (Suntory Sungoliath), Timothy Lafaele (Kubota Spears), Ryoto Nakamura (Suntory Sungoliath), William Tupou (Coca-Cola Red Sparks); Yu Tamura (Canon Eagles), Yutaka Nagare (Suntory Sungoliath); Keita Inagaki (Panasonic Wild Knights), Shota Horie (Panasonic Wild Knights), Jiwon Koo (Honda Heat), Luke Thompson (Kintetsu Liners), James Moore (Munakata Sanix Blues), Kazuki Himeno (Toyota Verblitz), Pieter Labuschagne (Kubota Spears) (capt), Amanaki Lelei Mafi (NTT Communications Shining Arcs).
Replacements: Atsushi Sakate (Panasonic Wild Knights), Isileli Nakajima (Kobelco Steelers), Asaeli Ai Valu (Panasonic Wild Knights), Wimpie van der Walt (NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes), Michael Leitch (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Fumiaki Tanaka (Canon Eagles), Rikiya Matsuda (Panasonic Wild Knights), Lomano Lava Lemeki (Honda Heat).
IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster), Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster); Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Queen’s University/Ulster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster), CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster).
Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster), Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster), Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster), Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster), Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster).
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Matthew Carley (England)
Television Match Official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Pre-Match Quotes: Andy Farrell (Ireland) –
They’ll throw the kitchen sink at us. They love to play (with) ball in hand, keep the ball off the floor and play a wide, wide game at times. But at the same time they’ve got the power in the middle of the field for an offloading game.
“They want to release the ball on the floor and get up and get going again as well. So they want to stress us through the middle as well as out wide. We’re fully aware of that. Just like Scotland, Japan like to take a few risks. It’s a very good test of our game this weekend.
“We’ve seen Jamie’s teams over time, how he likes to change things up. I’ve absolutely no doubt they will have something up their sleeve, so they’ll spring a bit of a surprise.
“The stress the Japanese players would have felt going into that (Russia) game, they are only human and it’s certain they would have felt that. Now they’ve got that under their belt they’ll be itching to get back out there.
“They want to put their best performance out there, they don’t want to die wondering. This is a huge occasion for them. We are aware of that mentality and what this game means to them, and we’ve got to act accordingly.”
Jamie Joseph (Japan) –
Our players will need to play the best game of their lives – that’s what they’ll need to be successful on Saturday. If we’re going to be successful and achieve our goals, we are going to need to have impact and experience (like Michael Leitch) on the bench.
“We’re playing probably the most experienced back-three in world rugby. Ireland consistently create lots of pressure from their kicking game and we just need a bigger man (Tupou) on the wing.
“I don’t think we’re the sort of team that can afford to be worried about whether Sexton is playing or not. The quality of the team or players, you don’t get to be number one in the world with only one or two quality players.
“While that is a surprise, it doesn’t change anything that we need to do. There’s a lot less experience without Sexton, but I remember playing my first Test match. It’s going to be an exciting time and he (Carty) is going to go out and play very well unless we can put him under pressure.”
Pre-Match Stats Preview:
Head-To-Head –
– Ireland have won all seven previous matches against Japan
– Ireland won the first match between these teams (32-16) at Lansdowne Road in 1991. That was also their first Rugby World Cup meeting
– Ireland have won all six encounters since by more than a 20-point difference
– The second and most recent Rugby World Cup encounter between Japan and Ireland was in 1995. In Bloemfontein, Ireland won the pool match 50-28
Japan –
– Japan won their Rugby World Cup opener against Russia 30-10
– Japan have won five World Cup matches in history, one in 1991 (against Zimbabwe), three in 2015 (Samoa, the USA and South Africa) and one in 2019 (Russia)
– Japan, at the 2015 World Cup, are the only team in tournament history not to progress to the knockout stages despite three victories in the pool phase
– Since the Rugby World Cup has been hosted by one country (1995), South Africa (1995), Wales (1999) Australia (2003) New Zealand (2011) all won their first two RWC matches at the tournament as hosts. Four years ago, England won their opener as hosts but lost their second match
– Pieter Labuschagne, one of only three players to captain the Brave Blossoms on debut, also captains the side against Ireland. Labuschagne, also going by his nickname ‘Lappies’, is the third foreign-born player to captain Japan in a World Cup match, following New Zealand-born duo Andrew McCormick and Michael Leitch
– Pieter Labuschagne will become the fourth South African-born player to captain a country other than South Africa at the Rugby World Cup, following the USA’s Kevin Dalzell, Quintin Geldenhuys of Italy and Ireland’s Dion O’Cuinneagain
Ireland –
– Ireland won their first 2019 Rugby World Cup match 27-3 against Scotland. In all of the last four World Cups, Ireland have won their first two matches
– Ireland have yet to concede a try this tournament
– Ireland will play the World Cup’s host team on home soil for the fifth time. They lost all the previous four, most recently against France in 2007 when they were defeated 25-3 at Stade de France
– Rory Best will captain Ireland for the 36th time. Only Brian O’Driscoll (83) has captained Ireland more often. Keith Wood is also on 36
– Best has scored three tries for Ireland at the Rugby World Cup, including one in last Sunday’s opener against Scotland
– Keith Earls will make his first appearance at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. He has scored eight World Cup tries, the most for any player in history representing Ireland. At the last World Cup in 2015, he overtook the seven by Brian O’Driscoll
– Only O’Driscoll (46) has scored more tries than Earls (30) for Ireland at Test level
Pre-Match Links –
Head-To-Head: Ireland v Japan
Andy Farrell And Conor Murray Preview Japan v Ireland
Ireland v Japan Team Announcement Press Conference
In Pics: Ireland Take In Shizuoka Stadium For Captain’s Run
Opta Match Facts Preview: Japan v Ireland
Iain Henderson On Reaching 50 Caps For Ireland
Rory Best Previews Japan v Ireland
Recent Meetings –
2017: Summer Tour First Test: Japan 22 Ireland 50, Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka; Summer Tour Second Test: Japan 13 Ireland 35, Ajinomoto Stadium, Tokyo
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