'We expect to dominate the Irish scrum in the second half' - Jones

Murray Kinsella Reports from Newcastle

EDDIE JONES SAID he expects Japan’s scrum to dominate in the second half of their Nations Championship clash with Ireland in Newcastle on Saturday.

Ireland have selected uncapped Connacht props Billy Bohan and Sam Illo on their bench for the clash with the Brave Blossoms, with Andy Farrell naming a much-changed match-day 23 after last weekend’s win against Australia.

Japan head coach Jones, who will be back for game day this weekend having served a ban for abusing a match official, is also leaning on some youth in his team, with 21-year-old out-half Ryunosuke Ito continuing in the number 10 shirt against Ireland.

Ito impressed on his debut as Japan beat Italy 27-10 in Tokyo last weekend, but Jones believes that his team may have superiority over Ireland at the set-piece in the second half.

That’s despite Jones calling on some young props of his own on the Japenese bench in the once-capped 21-year-old loosehead Sojiro Otuska and 24-year-old Keijiro Tamefusa.

“He’s 21 going on 41, he’s a very mature player,” said Jones of Otuska

“He’s got a really good head on him for a rugby player. He doesn’t get too upset about mistakes, gets on with the game, and understands when he’s got to keep learning.

“We’ve got great confidence in the young boy.

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“And particularly in the second half, we expect to dominate the Irish scrum.”

Italian referee Andrea Piardi will be the man making decisions at the set-piece.

Jones and Japan hope to build on their win over Italy this weekend as they ‘host’ Ireland in Newcastle.

“Ireland are a different opposition, they present different threats, they’re a much more possession-based team than Italy, so we’ve worked a lot on our defensive qualities, getting off the line together,” said Jones.

“We know they present multiple threats with their pod style of play and the game at the moment, with the quick ruck, is suiting attacking teams.

“We’re ready to go for Ireland. The only thing we’re worried about is how we play against Ireland. Italy’s the team that’s gone past.

“We’ve had to travel to Australia. Touring’s a great experience for a young team. You get to spend time with each other, have a bit of fun, train hard, experience a different culture, so we’re really enjoying the week. The boys have been enjoying recovering in the very cold water.”

Japan lost 41-10 to Ireland in Dublin last November, while Farrell’s men hammered the Brave Blossoms 60-5 at the Aviva Stadium in 2021.

Japan have only ever upset Ireland once, a momentous win at the 2019 World Cup.

“We’re really looking forward to putting in a winning performance against Ireland,” said Jones.

“If you look at the history of the games between Japan and Ireland, Japan’s only won the one game, which was in the home World Cup, so this is a great opportunity for this young team to put their name in history.”

The only change to Japan’s match-day 23 sees Taira Main coming in on the left wing.

Japan (v Ireland):

15. Takuro Matsunaga
14. Kazuma Ueda
13. Dylan Riley
12. Yuya Hirose
11. Taira Main
10. Ryunosuke Ito
9. Naoto Saito

1. Takato Okabe
2. Mamoru Harada
3. Shuhei Takeuchi
4. Harry Hockings
5. Warner Dearns (captain)
6. Ben Gunter
7. Kanji Shimokawa
8. Jack Cornelsen

Replacements:

16. Hayate Era
17. Sojiro Otuska
18. Keijiro Tamefusa
19. Michael Stolberg
20. Michael Leitch
21. Tiennan Costley
22. Itsuki Kamimura
23. Sam Greene

Referee: Andrea Piardi [Italy].