Ireland vs Japan: Johnny Sexton in for 100th cap; Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe start
Andy Farrell's Ireland squad to face Japan in Dublin on Saturday (1pm kick-off); James Lowe recalled to the wing having been dropped during the Six Nations; Jamison Gibson-Park starts at scrum-half, Conor Murray on bench; Sexton in for 100th cap; 12 of the 15 starters are from Leinster
By Michael Cantillon
Last Updated: 04/11/21 7:03pm
Johnny Sexton will pick up his 100th Test cap for Ireland vs Japan in Dublin on Saturday, while scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park and wing James Lowe are both picked to start.
Gibson-Park's presence from the off means Munster's Conor Murray - who has played just under a half of rugby since the summer's Lions tour - begins among the replacements.
In all, Andy Farrell has started some 12 Leinster players within the XV, with both the front-row and back-row made up entirely of Leinster players.
Hugo Keenan (full-back) and Lowe - the latter of whom was dropped during the 2021 Six Nations for poor form - combine with Munster's Andrew Conway in the back-three, as the experienced Keith Earls begins on the bench, while Connacht's Bundee Aki starts alongside Garry Ringrose in the centres, with Robbie Henshaw out injured.
Andrew Porter starts at loosehead prop for the first time in his Test career, having picked up 37 Tests before now as a tighthead, and combines with hooker Ronan Kelleher and tighthead Tadhg Furlong in the front-row.
Munster's Tadhg Beirne starts alongside James Ryan in the second row, with Ulster's Iain Henderson fit enough only for the bench, while an all-Leinster back-row sees Caelan Doris at blindside, Josh van der Flier at openside and Jack Conan at No 8.
On the bench, Munster skipper Peter O'Mahony provides back-row cover, while his provincial team-mate Joey Carbery is the out-half replacement.
Cian Healy's selection as loosehead replacement means there is no room for Dave Kilcoyne, while the uncapped Dan Sheehan and Connacht's Finlay Bealham provide hooker and tighthead cover respectively.
Ireland: 15 Huge Keenan, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park; 1 Andrew Porter, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 6 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Jack Conan.
Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Peter O'Mahony, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Keith Earls.
Matsushima returns for Japan
For Japan, head coach Jamie Joseph has made three changes to his starting XV following a 32-23 defeat to Australia a fortnight ago.
Yu Tamura has been recalled at fly-half, while winger Dylan Riley and full-back Kotaro Matsushima also come in, with back-row Pieter Labuschagne once again captaining the side
"In terms of the team and our journey, we've got one eye on Saturday's Test match, which will be a huge challenge for us, and the other looking at different combinations," he said.
"It's still early days in terms of our World Cup preparations and only our fourth game in two years, due to the impact of the pandemic.
"We have some time to get ready, so we're experimenting with positions, keeping consistency with our experienced players and giving opportunities to some of the newer guys."
Joseph says he is braced for Ireland's players to raise their game in a bid to help captain Sexton celebrate his 100th cap in style.
Fly-half Sexton is poised to become only the seventh Irishman to reach the milestone during Saturday's autumn Test against the Brave Blossoms in Dublin.
Joseph expects the landmark occasion for the opposition's skipper to make it a "more intriguing" challenge for his side.
"He's been a big part of the Irish success in recent years, certainly a big part when they beat the All Blacks (in 2016 and 2018) - a really experienced player," Joseph said of Sexton.
"It will be a great occasion for our boys to be able to celebrate that. We've talked about it this week.
"We know it's going to create a lot of emotion with the Irish boys, we know they're going to want to play for him and I think that makes the challenge for us more intriguing.
"But we've got a certain way we play the game and nothing's really going to change for us. It's just going to be a big occasion and I think that's going to be good experience for our boys.
"Going forward with Johnny, I'm sure the Irish guys will want him to stay around - time will tell, I guess."
Japan: 15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Dylan Riley, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 11 Siosaia Fifita, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Yutaka Nagare; 1 Keita Inaki, 2 Atsushi Sakate, 3 Jiwon Gu, 4 Jack Cornelsen, 5 James Moore, 6 Ben Gunter, 7 Pieter Labuschagne (c), 8 Kazuki Himeno.
Replacements: 16 Yusuke Niwai, 17 Craig Millar, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 20 Tevita Tatafu, 21 Naoto Saito, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Ryohei Yamanaka.
