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Autumn Nations Series: Ireland v Japan

The Ireland matchday squad, led by captain Jonathan Sexton, with IRFU President Des Kavanagh at the Aviva Stadium ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

Winning their 100th and 50th caps respectively, it is a special day for captain Jonathan Sexton and Tadhg Furlong as Ireland kick off their Autumn Nations Series campaign against Japan.

2021 AUTUMN NATIONS SERIES: Saturday, November 6

IRELAND v JAPAN, Aviva Stadium, 1pm (live RTÉ 2/RTÉ Player/Channel 4/RTÉ Radio 1/IRFU Live Blog)

Tickets are on sale from Ticketmaster.ie – click here to buy now

Tickets will also be available today from the Ticketmaster van at the corner of Northumberland Road & Lansdowne Road from 11am to 2pm.

Team News: In the team announced by Ireland head coach Andy Farrell, there are two significant individual milestones as captain Jonathan Sexton wins his 100th cap for his country, and prop Tadhg Furlong his fiftieth.

Sexton, who is joined at half-back by Jamison Gibson-Park, becomes Irish Rugby’s seventh centurion. He follows in the footsteps of John Hayes, Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Paul O’Connell, Rory Best and current team-mate Cian Healy.

Garry Ringrose and Bundee Aki are reunited in the centre for the first time since the rescheduled Guinness Six Nations game against Italy in October 2020.

Hugo Keenan starts at full-back in his 14th consecutive game for Ireland, and he is joined in the backfield by his Leinster colleague James Lowe and Munster’s Andrew Conway.

Having changed positions in the scrum, Andrew Porter will make his first international start at loosehead prop. The aforementioned Furlong and Ronan Kelleher complete a powerful front row unit.

James Ryan, who captained Ireland to a 39-31 victory over Japan in July, is partnered by Tadhg Beirne at lock, and the Leinster trio of Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan make up the loose forwards.

Uncapped 23-year-old hooker Dan Sheehan is standing by to make his debut off the bench. The Dubliner has played 17 times for Leinster, scoring nine tries.

There is plenty of experience amongst the other replacements – Healy, Finlay Bealham, Iain Henderson, Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray, Joey Carbery and Keith Earls.

Meanwhile, Japan head coach Jamie Joseph has made three changes – all in the back-line – to the team that lost 32-23 to Australia in Oita a fortnight ago.

Clermont Auvergne speedster Kotaro Matsushima, Yu Tamura, who kicked 14 points against Ireland at the 2019 Rugby World Cup), and Australian-raised back Dylan Riley all come into the starting XV.

Matsushima slots back in at full-back, while Lomano Lemeki, who was sin-binned in the Wallabies game for a shoulder charge, makes way for Riley to make his first international start on the right wing.

Captain Pieter ‘Lappies’ Labuschagne, one of nine starters who played in Shizuoka two years ago, leads an unchanged pack which includes Saitama Wild Knights duo Jack Cornelsen and Ben Gunter, the latter having made his debut against the Australians.

IRELAND: Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster); Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht), James Lowe (Leinster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (capt), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Ronan Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), Caelan Doris (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster), Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster).

Replacements: Dan Sheehan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht), Iain Henderson (Academy/Ulster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster), Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster).

JAPAN: Kotaro Matsushima (Clermont Auvergne); Dylan Riley (Saitama Wild Knights), Timothy Lafaele (Kobelco Kobe Steelers), Ryoto Nakamura (Tokyo Sungoliath), Siosaia Fifita (Hanazono Kintetsu Liners); Yu Tamura (Yokohama Canon Eagles), Yutaka Nagare (Tokyo Sungoliath); Keita Inagaki (Saitama Wild Knights), Atsushi Sakate (Saitama Wild Knights), Jiwon Gu (Kobelco Kobe Steelers), Jack Cornelsen (Saitama Wild Knights), James Moore (Shining Arcs Tokyo-Bay Urayasu), Ben Gunter (Saitama Wild Knights), Pieter Labuschagne (Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay) (capt), Kazuki Himeno (Tokyo Verblitz).

Replacements: Yusuke Niwai (Yokohama Canon Eagles), Craig Millar (Saitama Wild Knights), Asaeli Ai Valu (Saitama Wild Knights), Yoshitaka Tokunaga (Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo), Tevita Tatafu (Tokyo Sungoliath), Naoto Saito (Tokyo Sungoliath), Rikiya Matsuda (Saitama Wild Knights), Ryohei Yamanaka (Kobelco Kobe Steelers).

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant Referees: Damon Murphy (Australia), Pierre Brousset (France)
Television Match Official: Eric Gauzins (France)

Pre-Match Quotes: Jonathan Sexton (Ireland) –

Everything happens for a reason and hopefully getting your 100th cap in front of some people will be more special, I think.

“I’m trying to focus on the game. I don’t want to get drawn away from how important the game is and trying to get a performance early.

“We often haven’t hit the ground running and we need to make sure we can do that ahead of the Six Nations. Making sure we can hit the ground running in week one.

“We obviously learnt a hard lesson at the World Cup and they are a team that are just unbelievably well coached. That’s what I see when I look at Japan.

“You can tell how well drilled they are and obviously their coaches come with big reputations from what they did with the Highlanders. I can’t say enough about them.

“We’ll 100% give them the respect that they deserve and we’re preparing as well as we prepared for anyone.”

Jamie Joseph (Japan) –

Johnny Sexton’s been a big part of the Irish success in recent years, certainly a big part when they beat the All Blacks. A really experienced player. It will be a great occasion for our boys to be able to celebrate that.

“We’ve talked about it this week. We know it’s going to create a lot of emotion with the Irish boys, we know they’re going to want to play for him and I think that makes the challenge for us more intriguing.

“In terms of the team and our journey, we’ve got one eye on Saturday’s Test match, which will be a huge challenge for us, and the other looking at different combinations.

“It’s still early days in terms of our World Cup preparations and only our fourth game in two years, due to the impact of the pandemic.

“We have some time to get ready, so we’re experimenting with positions, keeping consistency with our experienced players and giving opportunities to some of the newer guys.”

Pre-Match Links –

Sexton Wants Ireland To ‘Hit The Ground Running’

Farrell: Johnny’s A One-In-A-Generation Player

Ireland v Japan – Coming To The Match

In Pics: Ireland Captain’s Run At Aviva Stadium

Henderson: We Want To Build On Momentum Of Last Five Wins

In Pics: Jonathan Sexton – 100 Caps

In Pics: Tadhg Furlong – 50 Caps

Recent Meetings –

2017: Summer Tour First Test: Japan 22 Ireland 50, Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka; Summer Tour Second Test: Japan 13 Ireland 35, Ajinomoto Stadium, Tokyo

2019: Rugby World Cup Pool A: Japan 19 Ireland 12, Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka

2020: Vodafone Summer Series: Ireland 39 Japan 31, Aviva Stadium