Joe Schmidt restores veterans but Sexton, O’Mahony, and Aki miss out

Ireland will welcome back Keith Earls and Rob Kearney to the back three for Saturday’s Pool A clash with Japan, but there will be no Johnny Sexton, Peter O’Mahony, or Bundee Aki in the starting XV.

Joe Schmidt stuck to his modus operandi of not selecting players who failed to train fully during the week’s first training session, which accounts for fly-half Sexton’s absence from the starting line-up, with Jack Carty handed the number 10 shirt after an assured turn off the bench for the final quarter of the opening-round victory over Scotland last Sunday.