Criticism is fuel to fire up players for Japan mission

Ireland supporters are about to discover whether their team’s trials and tribulations of the past few months will have been worth it when the World Cup squad gets put through its final paces before Japan at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow.

The last summer fixture is upon us with Wales visiting Dublin and after the ups and downs of 2019, book-ended by maulings from England in February and August, there is a sense that this is the first genuine opportunity to gauge where Joe Schmidt’s players are, just a fortnight out from their opening Pool A fixture against Scotland on September 22.