Sean McMahon reporting from Shizouka.
Head coach Joe Schmidt has named the Ireland team which will take on Japan in Saturday’s Pool A clash at the Shizouka Stadium Ecopa.
Schmidt has made a number of changes to the side which beat Scotland 27-3 in Yokohama on Sunday.
In total, Schmidt has made four changes to the starting XV which defeated Scotland as Rob Kearney, Keith Earls, Chris Farrell and Jack Carty come in for Jordan Larmour, Andrew Conway, Bundee Aki and Johnny Sexton.
If it wasn’t for a late foot injury picked up Jack Conan, the Leinster back-row would have been in the team. Schmidt confirmed in the press conference today that the injury isn’t serious and that he should train on Friday but the head coach didn’t want to risk aggravating the injury further.
Ireland Team To Face Japan
15. Rob Kearney
14. Keith Earls
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Chris Farrell
11. Jacob Stockdale
10. Jack Carty
9. Conor Murray
1. Cian Healy
2. Rory Best (C)
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Iain Henderson
5. James Ryan
6. Peter O’Mahony
7. Josh van der Flier
8. CJ Stander
Replacements:
Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Tadhg Beirne, Rhys Ruddock, Luke McGrath, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour.
Read More About: 2019 Rugby World Cup, ireland rugby, japan rugby, Top Story
