Ireland spoil Eddie Jones' return
MATCH REPORT: A new-look Ireland grind out a 36-20 victory over an energetic Japan in the Nations Championship on Saturday to stretch their win streak to six.
Five Irish players shared the try-scoring spoils on neutral territory at Newcastle, north of Sydney, to ruin Japan coach Eddie Jones’s return from a four-match ban for abusing match officials.
After their thrilling 33-31 victory over Australia in Sydney last week, where they rallied from behind four times, Ireland tightened up their defence and dominated possession.
But they were still guilty of some silly errors and their set-piece struggled to fire.
They went to the break with a 19-13 lead after a scrappy first-half and stayed focused to complete the job with coach Andy Farrell handing four players – Sean Jansen, Billy Bohan, Sam Illo and Bryn Ward – their debut.
It ensured a sixth consecutive win dating back to February, having also beaten Scotland, Wales, England and Italy.
That record will be put to the test next week when they travel to Auckland and an Eden Park cauldron for a blockbuster showdown with New Zealand.
The All Blacks are also two-from-two at the inaugural 12-team tournament, backing up their 34-32 victory over France with a 47-17 romp against Italy.
Japan host Six Nations champions France next, with Les Blues on a high after crushing a hapless Australia 42-26 in Brisbane with a rampant second-half display.
Farrell made nine changes to his starting side, with an eye on the All Blacks clash, and Tadhg Beirne Ireland out as captain for the first time.
Japan, who were brimming with confidence after beating Italy at home a week ago, made just one change with Taira Main replacing Kippei Ishida on the left wing.
Main was in the thick of the action immediately when Ireland’s Ronan Kelleher put too much on a lineout throw after three minutes and he gleefully collected and dashed 60 metres to the line.
Takuro Matsunaga added the extras, only for Ireland to quickly hit back when Ulster flanker Nick Timoney spotted a gap and dived under the posts for a converted try after some good ruck work.
A soft penalty allowed Matsunaga to restore Japan’s lead on 17 minutes in front of 11,021 fans at McDonald Jones Stadium, a host venue for the 2027 World Cup.
But after their nervy start, Ireland settled and began patiently building phases with the pressure rewarded when prop Tom O’Toole crashed over on a penalty advantage for a 12-10 lead.
Another unnecessary penalty, for offside, gifted Matsunaga three more points.
Again, Ireland kept their composure and with the maul working efficiently Craig Casey fired the ball out the back to Robbie Henshaw who had enough power to burrow over for another converted try and a 19-13 lead.
The second period started well for Ireland when No.8 Jansen barged over, with the move stemming from a lineout.
But Japan were no pushovers and came storming back with a converted try for replacement hooker Hayate Era closing the gap to six points with 22 minutes left.
Harry Byrne nailed a crucial penalty 10 minutes from time with a converted try to Tom Stewart at the death sealing the deal.
The scorers:
For Japan:
Tries: Main, Era
Cons: Matsunaga 2
Pens: Matsunaga
For Ireland:
Tries: Timoney, O’Toole, Henshaw, Jansen, Stewart
Cons: Frawley 3, Byrne
Pen: Byrne
Teams:
Japan: 15 Takuro Matsunaga, 14 Kazuma Ueda, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Yuya Hirose, 11 Taira Main; 10 Ryunosuke Ito, 9 Naoto Saito; 8 Jack Cornelsen, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 6 Ben Gunter; 5 Warner Dearns (captain), 4 Harry Hockings; 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Mamoru Harada, 1 Takato Okabe.
Replacements: 16 Hayate Era, 17 Sojiro Otuska, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Michael Stolberg, 20 Michael Leitch, 21 Tiennan Costley, 22 Itsuki Kamimura, 23 Sam Greene
Ireland: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Jimmy O’Brien, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Ciaran Frawley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Sean Jansen, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Jack Conan, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tadhg Beirne (captain), 3 Tom Clarkson, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Tom O’Toole.
Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Billy Bohan, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Cormac Izuchukwu, 20 Bryn Ward, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Bundee Aki.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)
