NEWCASTLE, Australia – Ireland has maintained its perfect start to the newly-launched Nations Championship, grinding out a hard-fought 36-20 victory over Japan on Saturday to secure back-to-back wins following its dramatic 33-31 come-from-behind win against Australia a week prior. The result sets up a highly-anticipated clash against the unbeaten New Zealand All Blacks next weekend at Auckland’s iconic Eden Park, after the All Blacks notched their second consecutive win with a 47-17 rout of Italy on Saturday, following their narrow 34-32 opening-round win over France.
Following their opening win against Australia, Irish head coach Andy Farrell made the rare call to reshuffle his side, turning over nine starting positions and handing test debuts to four young players on the neutral ground of Newcastle, located north of Sydney. The extensive roster changes showed on the pitch at times, as Ireland struggled for early cohesion against a motivated Japanese side that entered the match off a confident 27-10 win over Italy the previous week and put Ireland under pressure from the opening whistle.
Japan struck first just three minutes into the contest, as winger Taira Main crossed the try line, with fullback Takuro Matsunaga adding the conversion to jump out to an early 7-0 lead. Ireland responded quickly, however, with flanker Nick Timoney crashing over for a try that flyhalf Ciaran Frawley converted to level the scores at 7-7. Matsunaga slotted a penalty three minutes later to put Japan back ahead 10-7, but Irish prop Tom O’Toole responded with his first career international try to put Ireland into a 14-10 lead.
Matsunaga notched his second penalty of the half to retake the lead for Japan at 13-12, but Irish center Robbie Henshaw broke through the Japanese defense for a try after a sustained period of forward pressure from Ireland. Frawley’s conversion sent Ireland into halftime with a 19-13 advantage.
The second half opened with a milestone moment for Irish debutant Sean Jansen, who scored a try in the 51st minute to secure the four-try bonus point for Ireland and push the lead out to 26-13. Japan did not wilt, though, hitting back shortly after the hour mark when replacement forward Hayate Era barged over for a try that Matsunaga converted to cut the deficit to just six points, keeping the upset bid alive.
The narrow margin forced Ireland to respond, and replacement back Harry Byrne slotted a penalty in the 71st minute to push the lead back out to nine points, putting Ireland beyond the reach of a single converted Japanese try. Replacement hooker Tom Stewart, another of Ireland’s debutants, put the final stamp on the result with a try after the final siren, stretching the final score to 36-20.
Following the final whistle, Irish captain Tadhg Beirne emphasized the toughness of the win against a persistent Japanese side, noting that the scoreline did not fully reflect how close the contest was. “Very happy with two from two,” Beirne told reporters. “The target is three from three, so we have a big challenge ahead of us in New Zealand next week at Eden Park. We’re going to have to step up our performance for sure.”
“We had to fight hard for that one, we had to stick in it. Japan kept coming at us, coming at us but we held on well. We got a nice try at the end there to make the score look a little bit more comfortable than it was,” Beirne added. “We’re going to have to build on that and be better again next week.”
In the next round of Nations Championship matches, Japan will return to Tokyo to face France, who pulled off a second-half comeback to beat Australia 42-26 in Brisbane earlier on Saturday.