Porter hoping Japan can provide liftoff for Ireland's fortunes again

Andrew Porter during an Ireland Rugby captain's run at the Aviva Stadium. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Some games are wedged into the consciousness. Immovable bastions of memory regardless of what follows. Shizuoka in 2019 is one. 

A cold, dark slab of history that won’t be shifted from the psyche regardless of how many times Ireland and Japan meet again.

Never mind that only six of the Irish starters and two of the replacements from that day still feature in the national squad. It’s that 19-12 win for the then World Cup hosts that will feature in the TV montages before this Saturday’s meeting in the Aviva Stadium.

But as pointers for the current crop go, it may be that the last meeting holds most water.

That one was four years ago, in Dublin. Johnny Sexton was presented with a samurai sword after his 100th cap, Tadhg Furlong made it 50 not out and Andy Farrell’s side put in a performance that, looking back now, was evidence that the good times were here again.

Ireland scored nine tries in that 60-5 win. It was the first time that the side’s attack really hummed under Farrell, Caelan Doris was announcing himself as a world-class talent and it was all unfolding before a big Ballsbridge crowd after the Covid closures.

Andrew Porter, who had played in Shizuoka, remembers it well.

“We had New Zealand and Argentina in that same series. I think [people] were probably right that it was kind of a bit of a springboard and probably a step in the right direction. We were looking back on that [on Monday] and how can we basically get back to the way that feeling was, the cohesion there as well that we had in that Autumn Nations.

“It's crazy looking back. It's what, four years ago now, but it was an incredible day for Johnny and Tadhg. That was a great Nations Series to be part of, but … I remember it felt like everything kind of clicked that day, and in that series as well. That's what we're looking to do now.” 

But here’s the difference between then and now.

Ireland were showing signs of improvement before the autumn window in 2021. 

Sexton had implored people to trust them, to trust their processes, after two opening Six Nations losses and, sure enough, they wrapped that spring with a big defeat of England.

Now? The graph is pointing the other way. Ireland have lost the biggest game of their last three windows: against the All Blacks last November and last week, and at home to France in the Six Nations. And all by double figures.

Porter’s take is that Ireland have scaled these mountains before – they did beat South Africa in 2023 and 2024 and England last February – and so there is no reason to doubt that they can replicate all that again.

That’s harder to believe now than four years ago.

There has been an honesty to all the players and coaches who have spoken since Chicago. Not good enough, no excuses. 

It’s good to hear and how it should be, but few seem willing or able to frame that disappointment as just one piece in a bigger picture.

Porter, for instance, has chosen to view the Kiwi loss in splendid isolation.

“We looked at it as a fresh campaign. We were all coming back in together, and there's not much excuses at this level. It's incredibly disappointing, not getting the result we wanted on the day. The errors we made on the day, they compounded, and I don't think that's us as a team. That's the most disappointing thing.

“It's knowing the standards we have, and not putting it out there.” 

Players and coaches rightly make the case that pundits and Joe Public don’t get to see what goes on behind closed doors. This was part of Sexton’s bullishness in 2021 when he was so adamant that a corner was about to be turned.

The flip side is that those so embedded in the project can find it difficult to take in the wider context. Whatever about the rugby side to that, Porter has shown an admirable ability to put all this in perspective when it comes to life itself.

His recently published book, Heart On My Sleeve, is an honest and open account of his mental health and struggles and eating disorder and he has been thrilled and “overwhelmed” at the feedback received already.

“Yeah, it's mad. Even in Chicago I had people coming up to me saying they had read it. It's quite humbling, the reach it has gotten quite far. It's a nice feeling, being able to help people in that way that's away from rugby. That's what I set out to do when they brought the idea to me. I've done what I wanted to do with it.”