VODAFONE IRELAND WXV SERIES:
Sunday, September 27 -
IRELAND v JAPAN, Dexcom Stadium, kick-off 12.45pm (live on TG4 Player/Spórt TG4 YouTube channel)
Team News: An exciting afternoon of Test action awaits as Ireland return to the home of Connacht Rugby, where the Green Wave made its presence felt during the 2026 Guinness Women's Six Nations.
Head coach Scott Bemand has included Beth Buttimer in the matchday 23 for the first time. The 21-year-old hooker is set to make her senior international debut having performed outstandingly for Munster during the recent Vodafone Women's Interprovincial Championship.
There are six personnel changes to the team that lost to the USA, including the selection of Connacht's own Béibhinn Parsons, Anna McGann, and Aoibheann Reilly in the back-line.
Munster prop Eilís Cahill earns her first Ireland start in the front row, Neve Jones comes in at hooker, and Brittany Hogan has been added to the back row.
Hogan slots in at blindside flanker, with Jemima Adams Verling, fresh from her debut last week, moving to number 8, and Erin King, at openside, captaining her country for the seventh time.
Aoife Wafer, one of the six try scorers against the USA Women's Eagles, was ruled out of selection this week after suffering a minor injury in training.
The experienced second row pairing of Dorothy Wall and Fiona Tuite-O'Sullivan is unchanged, and Wexford woman Niamh O'Dowd will make her second successive start at loosehead prop.
The fit-again Parsons returns to the scene of her memorable first-half hat-trick against Italy back in April, joining Stacey Flood and Vicky Elmes Kinlan in the back-three.
McGann will partner her roommate Eve Higgins in the centre, and Roscommong native Reilly, linking up with Dannah O'Brien at half-back, gets a chance to play for Ireland at Dexcom Stadium for the first time.
On the bench, Tipperary youngster Buttimer and her provincial colleague Jane Clohessy are poised to win their first and second Ireland caps, respectively, while Sadhbh McGrath, Linda Djougang, and Grace Moore complete the forward reinforcements.
Bemand's back-line options for the first of back-to-back clashes with Japan - the teams will also meet at Virgin Media Park next Saturday - are Emily Lane, Aoife Dalton, and Niamh Gallagher.
Speaking ahead of the game in Galway, which will be broadcast live on the TG4 Player and the Spórt TG4 YouTube channel, full-back Flood said: "I love the Dexcom, I think it's a great venue. They have obviously done it up and it's a high-class facility.
"The crowd is so close to you, so hopefully we get the roar of the crowd this weekend, and put on some good rugby for them to watch.
"Japan have some new coaches and they are always just a relentless bunch. Their work-rate is so good and they're very structured, so just knowing that they'll never give up - there will always be a chaser, there will always be someone trying to sniff out a breakdown.
"So just knowing that if we impose our game on them, and do our own thing, that it should come off in the right direction and hopefully we can get a performance with it."
Meanwhile, talismanic scrum-half Moe Tsukui will captain Japan on the occasion of her 50th Test cap. Head coach Toshizumi Kitagawa has made two changes to the side that lost 55-21 to Italy.
Yokohama TKM's Moe Nagaoka comes in at hooker in an otherwise unchanged pack. Two-times capped flanker Nami Asari was one of their try scorers in Pordenone.
There is a first Test start for the 22-year-old Uta Kataoka at outside centre, combining in midfield with the experienced Mana Furuta of Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix.
The Sakura 15s' starting XV contains seven players who started the 42-14 pool defeat to Ireland at last year's Rugby World Cup - they are Sora Nishimura, Furuta, Komachi Imakugi, and Tsukui behind the scrum, and Wako Kitano, Masami Kawamura, and Yuna Sato in the forwards.
Compared to the Italy game, the Japanese bench has been freshened up with the introduction of Nijiho Nagata, Mio Nishimura, and Minori Yamamoto, who have 84 Test appearances between them.
"During the week, we have been focusing on improving our basic skills while also looking at how we want to play our style of game against Ireland," said Kitagawa, who was acting head coach before being appointed on a permanent basis last month.
"The mood among the squad is great. There's a real determination to use these two matches to show our potential, and to continue the growth of the team."
IRELAND: Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC/Leinster); Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht), Anna McGann (Railway Union RFC/Connacht), Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC/Leinster), Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC/Leinster); Dannah O'Brien (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht); Niamh O'Dowd (Gloucester-Hartpury), Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), Eilís Cahill (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster), Dorothy Wall (Exeter Chiefs), Fiona Tuite-O'Sullivan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster), Brittany Hogan (Sale Sharks), Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) (capt), Jemima Adams Verling (Galwegians RFC/Connacht).
Replacements: Beth Buttimer (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster), Sadhbh McGrath (Cooke RFC/Ulster), Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Jane Clohessy (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster), Grace Moore (Munster), Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC/Munster), Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Niamh Gallagher (Trailfinders Women/IQ Rugby).
JAPAN: Maiko Nishi (Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars); Sora Nishimura (MIE Pearls), Uta Kataoka (Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars), Mana Furuta (Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix), Komachi Imakugi (Arukas Queen Kumagaya); Sawa Harada (Japan University of Economics), Moe Tsukui (Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars) (capt); Hinata Komaki (Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix), Moe Nagaoka (Yokohama TKM), Wako Kitano (MIE Pearls), Masami Kawamura (Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars), Yuna Sato (Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix), Nami Asari (Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars), Sakurako Korai (Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix), Jennifer Nduka (Hokkaido Barbarians Diana).
Replacements: Nijiho Nagata (MIE Pearls), Nami Yoshida (Yokohama TKM), Juka Fuji (Yokohama TKM), Otoka Yoshimura (Arukas Queen Kumagaya), Mio Nishimura (Yokohama TKM), Anan Seo (Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix), Minori Yamamoto (Yokohama TKM), Mele Yua Havili Kagawa (Yokohama TKM).
Referee: Ella Goldsmith (RA)
Assistant Referees: George Selwood (RFU), Doriane Constanty (FFR)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (SARU)
FPRO: Stefano Roscini (FIR)
Pre-Match Quotes - Aoibheann Reilly (Ireland): "I went into camp (for the Six Nations earlier this year) and I had broken my fibula and hoping to get back, but then I reinjured it in the fallow week, so that's why I was in the squad and then out of it again.
"It was tough because I was doing my rehab and then being in the squad as well, so just very long days. But yeah, unfortunately I didn't get the end that I hoped for, but it just happens.
"I can't wait for Sunday. I got to play there over the summer with Connacht, but I think there's something different about playing there for Ireland.
"I did the warm-up the day we played (Italy) in Dexcom and I just couldn't get over that. That was my home ground, how well we were supported and obviously the facilities and stadium there are incredible. It was the perfect fit for us.
"I'm from Roscommon originally, but I play in Ballinasloe. It's just getting rugby in the likes of Roscommon and Creggs and all parts of Galway, Connemara, Sligo, the likes of that.
"Just having an Ireland game there, getting girls down, hopefully they'll pick up a rugby ball after that and it just keeps making rugby in the west stronger."
Gareth Steenson (Ireland): "The USA played a game that worked for them (last week). They worked out what they needed to do, and we just couldn't wrestle it back off them.
"Now if we are in that scenario again, I think now we'll be better equipped for what we require at that time. It is a learning curve. You have to live these sort of moments
"We've got another home game this weekend against a team that the last time we played in the World Cup it went well for us, but they're going to be hurting as well after what happened to them in Italy.
"We're at home, the conditions are probably going to play a certain way, which means we've got another opportunity to develop our game and talk about it in a different way."
Pre-Match Links:
King: We'll Come Back Stronger From This
'The Pathway's Been Huge For Me' - Adams Verling
In Pics: Ireland Train Ahead Of Japan Clash In Galway
In Pics: Ireland Continue Preparations For Galway Game
Recent Meetings -
2021: Autumn Test: Ireland 15 Japan 12, RDS Arena
2022: Summer Tour: First Test: Japan 22 Ireland 57, Shizuoka Stadium, Fukuroi; Second Test: Japan 29 Ireland 10, Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo
2025: Rugby World Cup Pool C: Ireland 42 Ireland 14, Franklin's Gardens, Northampton
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