Nine-try thriller as Ireland avenge Japan defeat in front of Aviva crowd

Vodafone Summer Series, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 3/7/2021

Summer Test: Ireland 39 Japan 31

Ireland gained revenge for their 2019 World Cup humbling by Japan as supporters returned to Aviva Stadium on Saturday but Andy Farrell’s were pushed to their limits by an adventurous Brave Blossoms in a nine-try thriller.

Centres Chris Farrell and Stuart McCloskey, prop Finlay Bealham, man of the match flanker Josh van der Flier and wing Jacob Stockdale scored for Ireland as Joey Carbery kicked 14 points on his first Test appearance for 20 months. 

But the contest was nip and tuck for all but the last 10 minutes as Japan repeatedly exposed defensive flaws with tries from skipper Michael Leitch, centre Timothy Lafaele, wing Siosaia Fifita and scrum-half Noato Saito.

The Japanese had arrived in Dublin intent on proving their 2019 World Cup victory over Ireland on home soil in Shizuoka was no flash in the pan but they also came to play and achieved both their objectives during a pulsating first half that delighted the 3,000 lucky ticket holders, many of whom were frontline workers.

The Brave Blossoms had played their first Test since losing their World Cup quarter-final to South Africa only last Saturday against the British & Irish Lions and they looked much sharper for it while Ireland, with a mix and match side missing their Lions tourists and resting a trio of veterans including captain Johnny Sexton looked disjointed and rusty. 

Without a team in the PRO14 Rainbow Cup final, Andy Farrell’s had not played a match in close to a month and it showed as Japan exploited home inaccuracy to take a 3-0 lead through a Yu Tamura penalty on three minutes.

Ireland replied inside five minutes as Chris Farrell powered over from close range, only for the visitors to hit back four minutes later as Ireland sloppily conceded a couple of penalties in quick succession, Japan launching captain Michael Leitch off a resulting lineout maul with Tamura’s conversion restoring their lead at 10-7. Japan were over again with attacking move that cut through Irish defences only for Timothy Lafaele’s effort to be ruled out for a forward pass.

Ireland made the most of their big let-off and started to play some more fluid rugby in the second quarter, fly-half Joey Carbery bravely collecting his own chip off the deck and setting in chain an attack that saw Peter O’Mahony bust a tackle before offloading in the left corner with Stuart McCloskey finishing the move on 26 minutes.

The ebb and flow of the half continued relentlessly and Lafaele finally got the score he deserved though Ireland’s poor defence was a big contributor after Tamura sent a crossfield kick to the left and wing replacement Shane Daly, on for the injured Jordan Larmour, fell off a tackle on opposite number Siosaia Fifita and then full-back Hugo Keenan failed to halt Lafaele as the centre finished a scintillating move.

Tamura stretched the lead to 17-12 with his conversion and that was the way it should have stayed going into half-time. This time it was Japan’s attacking intent that undid them, instead of playing out the half from the restart, they decided to run it out only for full-back Kotaro Matsushima’s pass into touch to hand the initiative back to Ireland.

Carbery was held up over the line from the initial lineout attack but Ireland eventually made Japan pay, prop Finlay Bealham powered over for the try and the fly-half’s conversion sent Ireland into the break with a 19-17 lead.

Japan started the second half just as they had the first, on the front foot and needed just three minutes to once again carve open Irish defences, the excellent Tamura pulling the strings with Matsushima attacking down the left and sending a grubber inside off his wing with the outside of his boot for Fifita to collect and score.

Tamura nailed the touchline conversion to stretch the lead to 24-19 before Ireland finally managed to get some dominance on the scoreboard through two tries four minutes apart, Josh van der Flier from close range and Jacob Stockdale after a defence stretching pass from Jamison Gibson-Park. 

Carbery converted both to open a 33-24 lead but back once more came Japan, their scrum-half Naoto Saito finishing a counter-attacking move after Carbery had kicked upfield with Tamura’s conversion making it a two-point game.

It was close enough for Ireland skipper James Ryan to point to the posts when they won their next penalty, Carbery following orders off the tee with a valuable three points on the hour mark and it was same again seven minutes later. 

Ireland took a 39-31 lead into the final 10 minutes and head coach Farrell felt the time was right to hand Gavin Coombes his Ireland debut off the bench, replacing his Munster captain Peter O’Mahony in the back row to a great reception from Irish supporters after a brilliant breakout season behind closed doors. 

After the thrills and spills of the first 70 minutes, Coombes came in with the drama all but over, just the way his boss would have wanted.

IRELAND: H Keenan; J Larmour (S Daly, 30), C Farrell (B Burns, ), S McCloskey, J Stockdale; J Carbery, J Gibson-Park (C Casey, 77); D Kilcoyne (E Byrne, 59), R Kelleher (R Herring, 70), F Bealham (John Ryan, 59); U Dillane (R Baird, 59), James Ryan - captain; P O’Mahony (G Coombes, 70), J van der Flier, C Doris.

JAPAN: K Matsushima (S Gates, 51); S Masirewa, T Lafaele, R Nakamura, S Fifita; Y Tamura (R Matsuda, 67), N Saito (K Shigeno, 67); K Inagaki (C Millar, 51), A Sakate (K Horikoshi, 61), J Koo (A Ai Valu, 51); W van der Walt (J Cornelson, 51), J Moore; M Leitch - captain, L Labuschagné, T Tatafu (A Mafi, 53).

Referee: Karl Dickson (England)