Farrell urges Ireland to 'get on with the big boy stuff' after low-key Japan outing

The Ireland boss says "we need to get over ourselves" ahead of the visit of Australia.

Mon, 10 Nov, 2025 - 08:00

Simon Lewis

IRELAND 41 JAPAN 10

A six-try blast on home soil should have been the perfect medicine for Ireland following the previous Saturday’s disappointment in defeat to New Zealand, yet this performance against Japan did not deliver the required antidote.

This return to Aviva Stadium to face a side 10 places beneath them at 13 in the world rankings and coming off a 61-7 drubbing by South Africa provided the ideal scenario for Andy Farrell’s players to reassert themselves as one of Test rugby’s leading lights ahead of more exacting Quilter Nations Series challenges later this month.

The head coach had dangled the carrot to a number of fringe players to make the contributions that would force his hand ahead of selections for this Saturday’s visit of Australia to Dublin, the following week’s arrival of the world champion Springboks, and beyond to the 2027 World Cup. He had asked for the fight from his squad he felt had been lacking in Ireland’s 26-13 defeat in Chicago but as a collective they failed to convince, certainly in a first half riddled with missed opportunities and a continuation of their recent lineout woes.

After concerns voiced by supporters and pundits that Farrell has been too loyal to ageing players and has not been proactive in regenerating his squad ahead two years out from the World Cup, this was a performance that perhaps justified his conservatism in selection.

Jack Crowley’s opening try was the exception in that opening 40 minutes, a well-executed team score finished by the fly-half midway through the half that gave hope to a subdued 50,060 crowd that Ireland had rekindled the attacking mojo which had been missing at Soldier Field.

It was, however, a bright spot in an otherwise disjointed and underwhelming effort that preceded the interval, Ireland’s lineout once again undermining the home side and final passes not sticking to the frustration of both Farrell and returning captain Caelan Doris, who described his team as being too “inward” looking before the break.

Flanker Nick Timoney added a second try, though, with Japanese centre Charlie Lawrence in the sin bin for a tip tackle on debutant Tom Farrell but, back to full strength, Eddie Jones’s side scored 10 points through a maul try for hooker Kenji Sato and a conversion and penalty for Seungsin Lee.

Ireland had lost Jacob Stockdale to a yellow card just before half-time but the interval allowed his side to regroup. Andrew Porter’s 47th minute try was the first sign of a re-energised team and with a boost from the Irish bench, tries for rookie front rowers Gus McCarthy and Paddy McCarthy from close range and a late dash for the line from wing and man of the match Tommy O’Brien secured the victory.

Yet the first-half performance was difficult to see past. The 12:40pm kick-off did not help the atmosphere and perhaps the performance too, with the Ireland boss likening the contest to English football’s annual pre-season curtain raiser between the league champions and FA Cup winners.

He was also open to the suggestion there was a lack of confidence within the playing group.

"Well, that's our job to make sure that that's not the case,” Farrell said in response. “If it is we will address that.

"You can have all sorts of excuses, can't you, with the start of the season and travel, jet lag, and all that, but not really, it shouldn't matter.

"We shouldn't be giving ourselves that excuse for that. If subconsciously that's in the back of people's minds, we need to address that really, as well. It's almost like a Charity Shield game - and that shouldn't be the case.

"Anytime you play for Ireland, it should be a full on Test match where you go out there with proper intention from the start and play your game.

"So again, it seems that most people have had a game so we need to get over ourselves and get on with the big boy stuff.”

Explaining what he meant by getting over themselves, Farrell said: "Feeling sorry for ourselves, you know?

"I wasn't on the field but I could see it was as though we were suppressing ourselves. When everyone's flying it, you can see in body language, can't you? You can see with how people move, etc.

"So we were just slowing ourselves down mentally and therefore physically as well.”

He added the solution came down to the team he selects to face Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies, who later on Saturday suffered a 26-19 defeat to Italy in Udine.

“So, yeah, some good lessons over the last couple of weeks,” Farrell continued.

"And we all know about Australia, what they'll be thinking about coming to the Aviva there is obviously a big game for Joe, and certainly will be for us at the same time. … We need to take responsibility for a good performance that does the shirt proud.”

IRELAND: 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.

Yellow card: J Stockdale 40-50mins

JAPAN: 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.

Yellow card: C Lawrence 17-27

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)