Second Half Salvo Gives Ireland The Spoils

Ireland opened their Quilter Nations Series account with a 41-10 victory against Japan at Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

A first home cap for Tommy O’Brien was makred by a well taken try and a Quilter Player of the Match award while Munster centre Tom Farrell brought his form to a green jersey for his first international cap.

The hosts led 17-10 at the break after a scrappy opening period. Fly-half Jack Crowley opened the scoring with an early penalty. Japan impressed with their tempo and ambition, stretching Ireland’s defence through sharp handling and clever kicks.

Tomoki Osada and Kippei Ishida threatened down the flanks. Ireland’s scramble defence held firm, though, and they were helped when Charlie Lawrence was sin-binned for a tip tackle on Farrell after 17 minutes.

Despite Japan’s early dominance, Ireland struck next. After sustained pressure, a loose ball fell to Thomas Clarkson, who released Nick Timoney into space.The Ulster back-rower showed his pace to finish under the posts, with Crowley converting. Ireland’s lead grew to 17-0, but Japan hit back through a powerful maul finished by Kenji Sato, converted by Seung-sin Lee. Ireland then lost Jacob Stockdale to the sin-bin for head-on-head contact, and Lee added a penalty before the break to make it 17-10.

Ireland started the second half with more intent. Prop Andrew Porter powered over from close range after strong carries from captain Caelan Doris and, O’Brien, though Crowley missed the conversion.

Japan continued to play with ambition, with Yoshitaka Yazaki making a blistering break, but their accuracy faltered at key moments. Ireland’s bench made a big impact, with Gus McCarthy crashing over for his third Test try (27-10), before Paddy McCarthy marked his home debut with a score from a well-executed lineout move (34-10). Sam Prendergast, impressing from the bench, converted both.

The final word went to Tommy O’Brien, who had been lively on the ground and in the air all afternoon, who deservedly crossed after pouncing on a loose ball and finishing from distance. Prendergast added the extras to seal the 41-10 win.

Speaking after the game O’Brien said, “We were disappointed in the result last week and the performance. We didn’t really fire any shots and it 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 [head coach Andy Farrell] talked to us about getting out of our own way, backing ourselves, and I think we did that pretty well in the second half. There’s a few new guys coming into the team. We wanted to express ourselves today.

“We’re excited [to face Australia]. There’s the disappointment of last week [losing to New Zealand], but we know that we had three great games at home in front of our fans.”