Jansen shines in Ireland's hard-fought bonus-point win over Japan

Murray Kinsella Reports from McDonald Jones Stadium

Japan 20

Ireland 36

THIS WAS IN the balance heading into the final quarter. Every one of the 11,021 people in Newcastle could sense that Ireland needed a strong finish.

There was some excellent work from Andy Farrell’s team as they ultimately earned a second bonus-point win from two Nations Championship games, yet it was difficult to shake off the determined Brave Blossoms.

Ireland got there in the end, as a last-gasp try from sub hooker Tom Stewart put a seal on the deal, the Ulster hooker charging over after provincial team-mate Cormac Izuchukwu surged down the left, with Nathan Doak popping the ball up to Stewart.

The Irish performance was strong in fits and starts. The likes of right wing Jimmy O’Brien, blindside flanker Jack Conan, openside Nick Timoney, and replacement centre Bundee Aki stood out.

Connacht number eight Sean Jansen shone on his debut, grabbing a try and winning collision after collision, as well as showing some nice footwork and handling. He certainly took his chance and put his hand up for involvement against the All Blacks next weekend with his player-of-the-match showing.

There were Ireland debuts off the bench for 20-year-old Billy Bohan, 21-year-old Byrne Ward, and 25-year-old Sam Illo, so this was a happy night for them too.

Ireland scored five tries as Timoney, Tom O’Toole and Robbie Henshaw dotted down along with Jansen and Stewart. Some of them were cracking tries, with Ireland putting together some of their trademark multi-phase attack to push Japan to breaking point.

And yet, there was a hefty error count in the Irish performance too. That might partly be expected with as many as nine changes to the starting XV and a further seven on the bench, but much of it was in Ireland’s control. 

The lineout had a tricky evening for a variety of reasons, with a dip to 78% on Ireland’s throw likely to have frustrated forwards coach Paul O’Connell.

That helped to give Japan some impetus, as Eddie Jones’ men proved formidable and vibrant. 21-year-old out-half Ryunosuke Ito performed admirably in just his second game of professional rugby and the Brave Blossoms seemed to revel in causing Ireland stress.

Ultimately, Farrell’s men had enough to notch a bonus-point win and move to the top of the Northern Hemisphere table.

Ireland led 19-13 at the half time break after a hard-fought 40 minutes in which the Brave Blossoms contributed plenty.

They took full advantage of an Irish lineout malfunction in just the fourth minute, wing Taira Main scorching onto the overthrow near the halfway line, and past Ciarán Frawley before he stepped O’Brien and took it home.

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Farrell’s men responded well, though, with Kelleher winning the scraps from an O’Brien aerial contest in the Japan half, sparking a cracking 14-phase passage of attack that ended with Nick Timoney scoring.

Frawley did very well in the build-up, shipping a late hit from Warner Dearns for penalty advantage but then stepping him soon after to give Ireland momentum, before a nice Kelleher offload allowed Osborne to carry strongly. There was neat interplay between Timoney, Frawley, and Stockdale for further gains. Henshaw was stopped close to the line, but Timoney powered over off Casey’s short pass.

A few Irish errors crept in then, with Tom O’Toole conceding a scrum penalty just after Thomas Clarkson had won one. James Ryan had a lineout steal, but then Casey wasn’t able to hold an inaccurate delivery from the Irish lineout.

The Irish scrum-half kicked out on the full soon after, then McCloskey gavFe up a kickable penalty for playing Japan number nine Naoto Saito at a ruck. Fullback Takuro Matsunaga slotted three points off the tee.

Yet Ireland went ahead of the first time in the game just as the game entered the second quarter, another multi-phase passage concluding with O’Toole thundering over off Clarkson’s scooped pass. The attacking sequence including an important dart by O’Brien off Kelleher’s short tip, as well as McCloskey doing something similar off Timoney.

Frawley missed what looked like a straightforward conversion but Ireland were 12-10 to the good. 

Jack Conan had the first of two breakdown poaches soon after, yet Ireland had a crooked lineout throw from Kelleher and then McCloskey was caught offside on lineout defence, so Matsunaga nudged the Japanese in front again.

Ireland had the last say of the half, however, with Henshaw dotting down their third. It came from a powerful maul, with Casey moving the ball away to Ireland’s number 13, who finished snappily by beating opposite number Dylan Riley and powering through replacement centre Tiennan Costley.

They really should have had the bonus point secured before the break, with classy work from McCloskey and Timoney sending Jansen hurtling at the Japense line. He was cut down short by Costley, yet opportunity beckoned on the next phase.

Casey’s pass asked a little too much of Henshaw, though, and he knocked on under pressure.

Ireland had to front up in the opening minutes of the second half, with another scrum penalty against O’Toole resulting in pressure down in their 22. Irish skipper Beirne lifted it with a trademark maul turnover.

They converted that new-found momentum down the other end of the pitch promptly as Connacht duo Illo and Bundee Aki made an impact off the bench. First, Illo was part of a rock-solid scrum from which the Irish backs sent Aki thundering into a gap.

Ireland swung the ball wide left, where Kelleher made big inroads to within a couple of metres of the tryline. They turned on their power game again, leading to Conan popping for Jansen to finish punchily.

Japan boss Jones sent on his replacement props – having promised they would “dominate” the scrum in the second half – and 21-year-old Sojiro Otuska duly won a scrum penalty with his first involvement.

Ireland were under the pump again near their line, but Casey came up with a cracking try-saving tackle on Sam Greene, with Ryan helping to finish off the hit. 

Unfortunately for Ireland, Kelleher’s throw into the ensuing lineout was crooked, so Japan got another shot. They took it as sub hooker Hayate Era barrelled over from close range, Matsunaga’s conversion bringing his side back to within six points at 26-20.

With both benches now almost completely emptied, there was plenty of inexperience in the Irish side heading into the crucial closing 15 minutes, with Japan desperately searching for another converted score to edge in front.

One of the senior men led the way, though, with Aki bringing real ferocity in his defensive work to help force a couple of turnovers from the Brave Blossoms. Then the Irish propping duo of Bohan and Illo claimed an important scrum penalty win.

Good stuff continued to be followed by bad though. Not long after a kick out on the full from replacement out-half Harry Byrne, there was another Irish lineout botch as Tom Stewart went short to Casey, but failed to throw the ball five metres.

So when Japan replacement Michael Leitch was pinged for not rolling away from a tackle, Byrne took the shot at goal and gave Ireland a nine-point lead with nine minutes left. 

There were still a few shaky moments ahead of them and though Ireland were within striking range after a yellow card for Japan’s Era, they couldn’t barge over for a fifth try.

Yet they went one more time, and Stewart gave the win a happy final flourish. 

Japan scorers:

Tries: Taira Main, Hayate Era

Conversions: Takuro Matsunaga [2 from 2]

Penalties: Takuro Matsunaga [2 from 2]

Ireland scorers:

Tries: Nick Timoney, Tom O’Toole, Robbie Henshaw, Sean Jansen, Tom Stewart

Conversions: Ciarán Frawley [3 from 4], Harry Byrne [1 from 1]

Penalties: Harry Byrne [1 from 1]

JAPAN: Takuro Matsunaga; Kazuma Ueda, Dylan Riley (Sam Greene ’42), Yuya Hirose (Tiennan Costley ’32), Taira Main; Ryunosuke Ito, Naoto Saito (Itsuki Kamimura ’73); Takato Okabe (Sojiro Otuska ’54), Mamoru Harada (Hayate Era ’48 (yellow card ’77)), Shuhei Takeuchi (Keijiro Tamefusa ’54); Harry Hockings (Michael Stolberg ’53), Warner Dearns (captain); Ben Gunter, Kanji Shimokawa (Michael Leitch ’53), Jack Cornelsen (Takato Okabe ’80).

IRELAND: Jamie Osborne; Jimmy O’Brien, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey (Bundee Aki ’48), Jacob Stockdale (Harry Byrne ’60); Ciarán Frawley, Craig Casey (Nathan Doak ’71); Tom O’Toole (Billy Bohan ’55), Rónan Kelleher (Tom Stewart ’60), Thomas Clarkson (Sam Illo ’48); Tadhg Beirne (captain), James Ryan; Jack Conan (Cormac Izuchukwu ’62), Nick Timoney, Sean Jansen (Bryn Ward ’62).

Referee: Andrea Piardi [Italy].