Women’s Rugby World Cup: Ireland v Japan

The punishing pre-season training blocks, and warm-up fixtures, are out of the way – the serious business starts now. Ireland will have a big travelling support behind them, as the Green Wave graces Northampton for today’s Rugby World Cup opener against Japan (kick-off 12pm).

2025 WOMEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP – POOL C:

Sunday, August 24 –

IRELAND WOMEN v JAPAN WOMEN, Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton, 12pm (live RTÉ 2/RTÉ Player/BBC Two/RTÉ 2FM/BBC Radio Ulster)

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Team News: Co-captains Sam Monaghan and Edel McMahon return to the team to lead Ireland (sponsored by Aon) for their Pool C clash with the Asian champions. They are two of the four personne changes made to the side that played Canada two weeks ago.

Head coach Scott Bemand has brought back in two of the Paris Olympians, Eve Higgins and Amee-Leigh Costigan, with the latter making her 20th Test appearance, joining Béibhinn Parsons, a try scorer last time out in Belfast, and Stacey Flood in potent back-three.

Higgins reforms her centre partnership with Aoife Dalton, the reigning Rugby Players Ireland Players’ Player of the Year, and the 21-year-old Dannah O’Brien will make her Rugby World Cup debut alongside Aoibheann Reilly at half-back.

There are 22 World Cup newcomers in Ireland’s matchday squad, with only Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald, the replacement hooker, having played at the 2017 tournament on home soil.

Niamh O’Dowd, Neve Jones, and Linda Djougang will pack down together in a familiar front row trio, and another of the group’s young guns, Ruth Campbell (22), joins forces at lock with Monaghan, who has timed her return from long-term injury to perfection.

Clare native McMahon has recovered from the knee injury which kept her out of the recent warm-up games against Scotland and Canada. She slots in at openside flanker, with Ulster duo Fiona Tuite (pictured above) and Brittany Hogan completing the back row.

Joining Moloney-MacDonald on the bench are fellow forwards Grace Moore, Eimear Corri Fallon, Sadhbh McGrath, and the newly-capped Ellena Perry, the former England prop who made her Ireland debut during the 47-26 defeat to the Canadians.

Anna McGann, who bagged a brace of tries in that game, Emily Lane, and Enya Breen are the reserve backs for Ireland’s first encounter with Japan since the two-match tour in August 2022, when Dalton and O’Brien made their international bows as teenagers.

Looking forward to the start of the World Cup campaign, Bemand said: “We’ve used the pre-season games as a combination of elevating performance and getting some combinations in. We’ve picked this squad to get a performance and a result out of this game.

“It’s important to start a World Cup in a positive manner. People have played their way in and we’ve got threats across the board.

“It’s great to have Edel (McMahon) back. She has been training for a couple of weeks and she’s ready. Good to bring her experience in for a game like this.”

He added: “We’ve been together as this group now for two years. We’ve continued to evolve our game, evolve strategies, and evolve depth. We’re in the right space, the right condition physically, and we now need to put it into game mode.”

Meanwhile, Japan’s long-serving head coach Lesley McKenzie has made just one to the team that lost 33-15 to Italy in Calvisano a fortnight ago. Komachi Imakugi is preferred to Sakurako Hatada on the left wing.

40-cap veteran Iroha Nagata is competing at her third World Cup, and captains the Sakura Fifteen from the back row. They have won five of their six Tests so far this year, including a first ever win over the USA, triumphing 39-33 in Los Angeles.

Their preparations for England 2025 included two home victories over Pool C rivals Spain – 32-19 and 30-19. They scored five tries in both games, and have a fluid attack which will be marshalled by half-backs Ayasa Otsuka and Moe Tsukui.

McKenzie has former England head coach Simon Middleton involved with the Japan squad as a high performance advisor, and former Australia out-half Berrick Barnes is their backs coach.

“All I can probably say about this group is that they can be really proud of their preparation, they put a lot into it,” commented McKenzie, who played for Canada at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.

“I’m really pleased with the detail that the players have brought to the challenge the coaches and the staff have laid out. We’ve been very upfront about what the sequencing of our pool competition looks like.

“So, since March, when we assembled for this campaign, we’ve known this is a key game for us – it sets a tone, it sets a standard, and we set our stall out how we want to play, perform and be seen at this tournament.”

IRELAND: Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC); Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht), Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC), Amee-Leigh Costigan (Railway Union RFC/Munster); Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht); Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Ruth Campbell (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Sam Monaghan (Gloucester-Hartpury/IQ Rugby) (co-capt), Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster), Edel McMahon (Exeter Chiefs/Connacht) (co-capt), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster).

Replacements: Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs), Ellena Perry (Gloucester-Hartpury/IQ Rugby), Sadhbh McGrath (Cooke RFC/Ulster), Eimear Corri Fallon (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Grace Moore (Trailfinders Women/IQ Rugby), Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC), Enya Breen (Blackrock College RFC/Munster), Anna McGann (Railway Union RFC/Connacht).

JAPAN: Sora Nishimura (Mie Pearls); Misaki Matsumara (Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix), Mana Furuta (Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix), Haruka Hirotsu (Nanairo Prism Fukuoka), Komachi Imakugi (Arukas Queen Kumagaya); Ayasa Otsuka (Arukas Queen Kumagaya), Moe Tsukui (Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars); Sachiko Kato (Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars), Asuka Kuge (Arukas Queen Kumagaya), Wako Kitano (Mie Pearls), Yuna Sato (Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix), Otoka Yoshimura (Arukas Queen Kumagaya), Masami Kawamura (Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars), Iroha Nagata (Arukas Queen Kumagaya) (capt), Seina Saito (Mie Pearls).

Replacements: Kotomi Taniguchi (Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars), Manami Mine (Nippon Sport Science University), Nijiho Nagata (Mie Pearls), Ayana Sakurai (Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars), Kyoko Hosokawa (Mie Pearls), Megumi Abe (Arukas Queen Kumagaya), Minori Yamamoto (Yokohama TKM), Sakurako Hatada (Nippon Sport Science University).

Referee: Clara Munarini (FIR)
Assistant Referees: Precious Pazani (ZRU), Amelia Luciano (USA)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
FPRO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)

Pre-Match Quotes: Sam Monaghan (Ireland) – “We’ve been here since last Friday, so it’s been over a week now. Sitting down and watching last night (Friday) and seeing it kick off, it has got really real. We’re all just buzzing and excited for tomorrow.

“We know Japan are well disciplined and a well-drilled team. We’ve been focused on this game for a couple of weeks now and we’re just really excited to get going.

“There’s been such a buzz, we’ve been building for the last three years. There’s no pressure, we’re going to do what we do. There’s four white lines out there, so we’re going to focus on us and enjoy it as much as we can.”

Edel McMahon (Ireland) – “Fast starts, it’s important to put our stamp early on the game, get out of the blocks and really attack Japan.

“We do have girls with different experiences on the world stage, so it doesn’t feel like a lot of players’ first World Cup. These girls take it in their stride. It’s cool to see that headspace.

“You feel like you prepare a long time for this first game so it’s a case of, ‘Let’s get out on the pitch’. There’s a good balance in the squad, with people who are good at compartmentalising things.”

Opta Facts – Ireland v Japan:

– Japan won their most recent Test match against Ireland (29-10 in August 2022), after losing each of their first six meetings, including three defeats at Rugby World Cups (1994, 2002, and 2017)

– Ireland will participate in their eighth Rugby World Cup, and their first since hosting the tournament in 2017. Their highest placing so far came in 2014,when they reached the semi-final stage for the first time

– Ireland have won seven of their last eight Rugby World Cup pool matches, however, the exception came in their most recent pool fixture, losing 21-5 to France in their final pool outing of the 2017 edition

– Ireland made the most turnover-winning tackles per game of any team in this year’s Six Nations (4.0), while Japan averaged the most of any side in the 2024 WXV2 tournament (4.7)

– Ireland retained possession from a higher share of their rucks than any other team in the 2025 Six Nations (97.2%), while Japan had the quickest average attacking ruck speed of any side in WXV2 last year (2.6 seconds)

– Ireand hooker Neve Jones missed just one of her 202 tackle attempts in last season’s Premiership Women’s Rugby campaign, with her 99.5% success rate being the highest among the 250 players to attempt at least 30 tackles. Her Ireland team-mate, Edel McMahon, had the second best rate (97.6%)

– Japan captain Iroha Nagata made the most tackles of any player in WXV2 in 2024 (50), with three of those tackles winning a turnover for her side, the joint-most of any player (also Evie Gallagher and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi)

Recent Meetings –

2021: November Test: Ireland 15 Japan 12, the RDS

2022: Summer Series: First Test: Japan 22 Ireland 57, Shizuoka Stadium, Fukuroi; Second Test: Japan 29 Ireland 10, Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo

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