Six Try Ireland Beat Japan

Ireland produced a strong second half performance to subdue a never-say-die Japan at Aviva Stadium in the opening game of the Quilter Nations Series.

A stop start first half saw Jack Crowley and Nick Timoney get over the whitewash and with Crowley adding the extras and a penatly a half time lead of 17-10.

The second half saw Ireland increase the tempo and there were tries for Andrew Porter, Gus McCarthy, Paddy McCarthy and Player of the Match Tommy O’Brien.

Speaking after the match O’Brien said, “We were disappointed with the result last week, and the performance. Felt like we didn’t really fire any shots, which was really disappointing because we had amazing support over there.

This week, in front of a home crowd, we wanted to put a better performance together. ‘Faz’ talked at half-time about getting out of our own way, backing ourselves, and I think we did that pretty well in the second half.

Obviously there’s a few new guys coming into the team, so it’s always going to be the way (with mistakes). We’re building, we want to stress ourselves to play a nice expansive brand of rugby. Errors are going to come with that obviously, but hopefully as the games go on, we improve.