After a ripper of an opening Nations Championship Test against Australia last weekend, Ireland take on Japan looking to make it two from two.
The game takes place in McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, a couple of hours north of Sydney.
Ireland boss Andy Farrell has made numerous changes to his team, while Japan are looking to build on last weekend’s fine win over Italy.
Find out all you need to know here.
TV
Ireland v Australia (11.10am Irish time) will be live on Virgin Media TV
ONLINE
We’ll have a live blog, match report and post-game reaction on rte.ie/sport.
WEATHER
A clear sky and a gentle breeze is expected in about 13C for the 8.10pm local time kick-off.
Ireland began the new tournament with a narrow 33-31 win over Australia in which the hosts missed a late penalty to nick the game.
Andy Farrell’s side had fought back from 24-12 down just before the break and scored five tries in total.
When they were good, they were very good, and when they were bad, as they conceded five tries, they looked ragged.
The new-look side, with nine changes, will aim to deliver a more consistent showing as they meet the Brave Blossoms for the 12th time, losing just once – the infamous 2019 World Cup clash – in that run.
Farrell has chosen this game to blood some new players with Sean Jansen getting the nod from the start with Sam Illo, Billy Bohan and Bryn Ward set for debuts off the bench.
Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy, Josh van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park, Sam Prendergast, Garry Ringrose and Hugo Keenan are all rested.
Tadhg Beirne captains the team for the first time, while Ciarán Frawley gets a first start at out-half.
For Japan, winger Taira Main replaces Kippei Ishida in their only change as Eddie Jones returns from a four-match ban for abusing match officials on a tour of Australia earlier this year.
Japan conceded first last weekend against Italy but rallied and scored three tries in a 27-10 victory in Tokyo, restricting the Azzurri to just a single five-pointer.
A crowd of around 10,000 is expected at the game hosted at the home (above) of NRL side Newcastle Knights and soccer team Newcastle Jets.
Ireland face New Zealand in Eden Park next weekend to round off their summer schedule, while Japan host France in Tokyo.
TEAMS
Japan: Takuro Matsunaga; Kazuma Ueda, Dylan Riley, Yuya Hirose, Taira Main; Ryunosuke Ito, Naoto Saito; Takato Okabe, Mamoru Harada, Shuhei Takeuchi; Harry Hockings, Warner Dearns (capt); Ben Gunter, Kanji Shimokawa, Jack Cornelsen
Replacements: Hayate Era, Sojiro Otuska, Keijiro Tamefusa, Michael Stolberg, Michael Leitch, Tiennan Costley, Itsuki Kamimura, Sam Greene.
Ireland: Jamie Osborne; Jimmy O’Brien, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Ciarán Frawley, Craig Casey; Tom O’Toole, Rónan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson; Tadhg Beirne (capt), James Ryan; Jack Conan, Nick Timoney, Sean Jansen.
Replacements: Tom Stewart, Billy Bohan, Sam Illo, Cormac Izuchukwu, Bryn Ward, Nathan Doak, Harry Byrne, Bundee Aki.
OFFICIALS
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Assistant Referee 1: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR)
Assistant Referee 2: Morné Ferreira (SARU)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
FPRO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
WHAT THEY SAID
Eddie Jones (Japan head coach): “You look at the history of the games between Japan and Ireland, Japan’s only won the one game, which was at the home World Cup. So this is a great opportunity for this young team to put their name in history, and that’s what we want to do.”
Andy Farrell (Ireland head coach): “Really excited about this one for for all sorts of reasons. It’s always a special occasion when you give one person a debut, never mind four.
“Really looking forward to how they apply themselves to attacking the game first and foremost, because that’s the roles they’re able to add to the team and the performance behind all that.”
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
2025: Ireland 41-10 Japan, November international, Dublin
2021: Ireland 60-5 Japan, November international, Dublin
2021: Ireland 39-31 Japan, summer series, Dublin
2019: Japan 19-12 Ireland, RWC, Shizouka
2017: Japan 13-35 Ireland, summer tour, Tokyo
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