Replacements add necessary urgency as Ireland complete convincing six-try defeat of Japan
Tommy O'Brien dives over to score his side's sixth try. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
Ireland completed a six-try defeat of Japan in their Quilter Nations Series home opener in Dublin but it was a match that failed to spark in its early Saturday afternoon slot on a busy schedule of Test rugby.
Yet it was a convincing scoreline and credit to Ireland’s bench for adding some much-needed energy to build on a 17-7 half-time lead adding to Jack Crowley and Nick Timoney’s first-half tries with scores from Andrew Porter, replacement front-rowers Gus McCarthy and Paddy McCarthy and starting wing Tommy O’Brien.
Japanese hooker Kenji Kato and a conversion and penalty from fly-half Seungsin Lee had brought an element of jeopardy to the contest just before half-time but Eddie Jones’s Brave Blossoms were outplayed as the game wore on as Ireland cashed in to rebound from the previous Saturday’s defeat by New Zealand in Chicago.
Andy Farrell had made eight changes from the side which started at Soldier Field, handing a Test debut to 32-year-old Munster centre Tom Farrell and returning a fit-again Caelan Doris to the captaincy at No.8 after a successful comeback from injury off the bench against the All Blacks.
Yet the 12:40pm kick-off did not help in the slightest. Spectators were slow to their seats and noticeably restrained, even for an Ireland crowd on such occasions, their subdued mood matched by a scrappy, stop-start first half, curiously disrupted by a number of knock-ons in what were perfect autumnal conditions.
Jack Crowley had opened the scoring with a kick at goal after six minutes after Ireland’s scrum had struck first blood with a penalty at an Irish scrum inside the Japanese half.
Japan enjoyed plenty of possession but lacked the power to muscle their way through a home defensive line happy to absorb the pressure without any undue stress. With ball in hand, though, Ireland were less impressive, undone once again by a misfiring lineout which hindered attempts to add to their early 3-0 lead.
The ball had gone beyond the tail on Ireland’s first throw from Ronan Kelleher, though the subsequent knock-on from the Japanese led to the scrum which had enabled Crowley’s three-pointer while the hooker was later penalised by Italian referee Gianluca Gnecchi for a dummy throw.
By that time Japan had lost centre Charlie Lawrence to a yellow card for a tip tackle on debutant opposing midfielder Tom Farrell and despite the lineout glitch that immediately followed, Ireland finally extended their lead as they countered from the clearing exit kick from the visitors.
Farrell, unhurt by the dangerous play, threw a long pass out to left wing Jacob Stockdale to stretch the short-handed defence and having moved the ball back inside, Ireland attacked through the middle, prop Thomas Clarkson’s carry making ground before Crowley ran the ball in behind the posts unopposed, the fly-half converting his own try to give his side a 10-0 first-quarter lead.
Lawrence had returned to the field when Ireland next scored on the half-hour, flanker Nick Timoney emerging from a scrappy period of play to score from 15 metres out in the left corner, Crowley adding the conversion from the edge to make it 17-0.
Yet Japan finally found a way to convert their lion’s share of the possession in the minutes before half-time and the concession of back-to-back penalties by Ireland gave them the platform to strike from a maul, hooker Kenji Sato touching down on 37 minutes. The try converted by fly-half Seungsin Lee, who added a penalty to end an underwhelming half by making it 17-10 at the break, though not before Stockdale was shown a yellow card at the prompting of TMO Matteo Liperini for what looked like an innocuous head contact on right wing Kippei Ishida.
Regardless, it left Ireland facing the opening 10 minutes of the second half with a man short. Despite the disadvantage, Ireland scored next, on 47 minutes as loosehead prop Andrew Porter crashed over from short range after collecting a pass from scrum-half Craig Casey. Crowley missed the conversion and soon after made way for Sam Prendergast as Andy Farrell began to ring the changes, also throwing on the replacement fly-half’s brother Cian Prendergast for James Ryan in the second row and Jack Conan to replace try-scorer Timoney.
The changes injected some tempo and urgency into the proceedings and it was another replacement, hooker Gus McCarthy, who scored Ireland’s fourth try as the home side started to pull away from their opponents, soon followed by loosehead Paddy McCarthy, five minutes after he replaced Porter.Â
It was the prop’s maiden Test try a week on from a debut off the bench against the All Blacks and it was followed by a first home try for wing Tommy O’Brien three minutes from time, Sam Prendergast adding his second conversion from three kicks. It made for a rousing end to an otherwise flat encounter and much more will be expected by Andy Farrell when they face Joe Schmidt’s Australia next Saturday.
J Osborne (J O’Brien, 67); T O’Brien, T Farrell, R Henshaw, J Stockdale; J Crowley (S Prendergast, 51), C Casey (C Blade, 62); A Porter (P McCarthy, 67), R Kelleher (G McCarthy, 58), T Clarkson (F Bealham, 58); J Ryan (C Prendergast, 51), T Beirne; R Baird, N Timoney (J Conan, 51), C Doris (captain).
J Stockdale 40-50mins.Â
Y Yazaki; K Ishida, D Riley, C Lawrence (Y Hirose, 67), T Osada; S Lee (S Komura, 58), N Saito (S Fujiwara, 58); K Kobayashi (R Iwaihiara, 51), K Sato (S Hirao, 67), S Takeuchi (K Tamefusa, 58); E Uluiviti (J Cornelsen, 54), W Dearns (captain); B Gunter (M Leitch, 47), K Shimokawa, F Makisi.
C Lawrence 17-27.Â
Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy).
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