Ireland struggles but finishes strong to defeat Japan 41-10

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DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland labored to put away Japan by a flattering 41-10 at sun-kissed Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

Coach Andy Farrell wanted a convincing show at home after losing to New Zealand 26-13 in Chicago and Japan looked to be there for the plucking after being smashed by South Africa 61-7 last weekend.

But despite perfect conditions Ireland struggled until the last quarter for rhythm, with passes awry and the set-pieces shaky again. The arrival off the bench of the Prendergast brothers, Cian and Sam, and Jack Conan, boosted Ireland's energy against a flagging Japan and three tries in the last 14 minutes gave the scoreline an unwarranted glow.

Ireland won by six tries to one with Australia coming next weekend. But the more pertinent numbers were 19 handling errors by Ireland and 17 by Japan.

“We wanted to put in a better performance for the home crowd,” Ireland standout Tommy O'Brien told broadcaster TNT. “We brought plenty of energy and improved massively in the second half. We had a few new players out there today and tried to play a fast brand of rugby so that will come with errors.”

The Irish scored only two tries in the first half. Flyhalf Jack Crowley, with an assist from captain Caelan Doris, finished off their most fluid move but that was against 14 men. Then flanker Nick Timoney burned the Japanese defense with his fifth try in five tests across four years after Japan hesitated when Tadhg Beirne dropped a catch that James Ryan cleaned up.

Crowley's goalkicks made it 17-0 after 30 minutes.

But Japan was doing all the entertaining, especially backs Kippei Ishida and Naoto Saito. Their positivity — forcing Ireland to make twice as many tackles — was rewarded by the crowd cheering their 10-man rolling maul carrying Kenji Sato over for a converted try near halftime.

Ireland started the second half with wing Jacob Stockdale in the sin-bin but still scored when prop Andrew Porter crashed over during a move in which another pass went to ground, through Doris.

A minute after he came out of the sin-bin, Stockdale thought he'd scored his first Ireland try in four years but it was ruled out for offside.

Ireland's punchy reinforcements made a difference. Replacement hooker Gus McCarthy scored from a rolling maul to make the result safe at 27-10, then replacement prop Paddy McCarthy went over.

A final flourish came from a turnover on halfway; Sam Prendergast's behind-the-back pass sent busy winger O'Brien away for a deserved try by the man of the match.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby