2017 Ireland rugby union tour of Japan

In June 2017, Ireland played a two-test series against Japan as part of the 2017 mid-year rugby union tests. It was the first time Ireland had played a test series against Japan in Japan since 2005. The series was part of the fifth year of the global rugby calendar established by the International Rugby Board, which runs through to 2019.^[1]

2017 Ireland rugby union tour of Japan
Coach(es)	Joe Schmidt
Tour captain(s)	Rhys Ruddock
Top test point scorer(s)	Paddy Jackson (23)
Top test try scorer(s)	Four players Jack Conan (2) Keith Earls (2) Dan Leavy (2) Garry Ringrose (2)
Summary	P W D L
Total	02 02 00 00
Test match	02 02 00 00
Opponent	P W D L
Japan	2 2 0 0
Tour chronology
Previous tour	South Africa 2016
Next tour	Australia 2018

Fixtures

Date	Venue	Home	Score	Away
17 June 2017	Shizuoka Stadium, Shizuoka	Japan	22–50	Ireland
24 June 2017	Ajinomoto Stadium, Tokyo	Japan	13–35	Ireland

Squads

Note: Ages, caps and clubs are as per 17 June, the first test match of the tour.

Ireland

On 16 May 2017, Joe Schmidt named a 31-man squad for the 2017 Summer Tour.^[2] On 22 May, Connacht lock Quinn Roux was added to the squad.^[3] On 31 May, Tommy O'Donnell was ruled out of the tour due to an ankle injury.^[4] Following an ankle injury sustained in the test against the United States, fly-half Joey Carbery was ruled out of the remainder of the tour. Ulster's Sean Reidy was also called up to replace Tommy O'Donnell.^[5]

Coaching team:

• Head coach: Joe Schmidt
• Skills coach: Girvan Dempsey & Felix Jones
• Forwards coach: Simon Easterby

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Dave Heffernan	Hooker	(1991-01-01) 1 January 1991 (age 34)	1	Connacht
Niall Scannell	Hooker	(1992-04-08) 8 April 1992 (age 33)	5	Munster
James Tracy	Hooker	(1991-04-02) 2 April 1991 (age 34)	2	Leinster
Finlay Bealham	Prop	(1991-10-09) 9 October 1991 (age 33)	6	Connacht
Cian Healy	Prop	(1987-10-07) 7 October 1987 (age 37)	68	Leinster
Dave Kilcoyne	Prop	(1988-12-14) 14 December 1988 (age 36)	18	Munster
Andrew Porter	Prop	(1996-01-16) 16 January 1996 (age 29)	1	Leinster
John Ryan	Prop	(1988-08-02) 2 August 1988 (age 37)	7	Munster
Quinn Roux	Lock	(1990-10-30) 30 October 1990 (age 34)	2	Connacht
James Ryan	Lock	(1996-07-24) 24 July 1996 (age 29)	1	Leinster
Devin Toner	Lock	(1986-06-29) 29 June 1986 (age 39)	48	Leinster
Kieran Treadwell	Lock	(1995-11-06) 6 November 1995 (age 29)	0	Ulster
Dan Leavy	Flanker	(1994-05-23) 23 May 1994 (age 31)	3	Leinster
Tommy O'Donnell	Flanker	(1987-06-21) 21 June 1987 (age 38)	12	Munster
Sean Reidy	Flanker	(1989-05-10) 10 May 1989 (age 36)	1	Ulster
Rhys Ruddock (c)	Flanker	(1990-11-13) 13 November 1990 (age 34)	14	Leinster
Josh van der Flier	Flanker	(1993-04-25) 25 April 1993 (age 32)	8	Leinster
Jack Conan	Number 8	(1992-07-29) 29 July 1992 (age 33)	2	Leinster
Jack O'Donoghue	Number 8	(1994-02-08) 8 February 1994 (age 31)	1	Munster
John Cooney	Scrum-half	(1990-05-01) 1 May 1990 (age 35)	0	Connacht
Kieran Marmion	Scrum-half	(1992-02-11) 11 February 1992 (age 33)	14	Connacht
Luke McGrath	Scrum-half	(1993-02-03) 3 February 1993 (age 32)	3	Leinster
Joey Carbery	Fly-half	(1995-11-01) 1 November 1995 (age 29)	4	Leinster
Paddy Jackson	Fly-half	(1992-01-05) 5 January 1992 (age 33)	23	Ulster
Luke Marshall	Centre	(1991-03-03) 3 March 1991 (age 34)	10	Ulster
Garry Ringrose	Centre	(1995-01-26) 26 January 1995 (age 30)	9	Leinster
Rory Scannell	Centre	(1995-01-26) 26 January 1995 (age 30)	1	Munster
Andrew Conway	Wing	(1991-07-11) 11 July 1991 (age 34)	1	Munster
Keith Earls	Wing	(1987-10-02) 2 October 1987 (age 37)	60	Munster
Rory O'Loughlin	Wing	(1994-01-21) 21 January 1994 (age 31)	0	Leinster
Jacob Stockdale	Wing	(1996-04-06) 6 April 1996 (age 29)	1	Ulster
Tiernan O'Halloran	Fullback	(1991-02-26) 26 February 1991 (age 34)	4	Connacht
Simon Zebo	Fullback	(1990-03-16) 16 March 1990 (age 35)	34	Munster

Japan

On 29 May, Jamie Joseph named a 33-man squad ahead of their two-test series against Ireland and one-off test match against Romania.^[6]

• Head Coach: Jamie Joseph

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Yusuke Niwai	Hooker	(1991-10-22) 22 October 1991 (age 33)	1	Sunwolves
Takeshi Hino	Hooker	(1990-01-20) 20 January 1990 (age 35)	4	Sunwolves
Shota Horie (c)	Hooker	(1986-01-21) 21 January 1986 (age 39)	50	Sunwolves
Takuma Asahara	Prop	(1987-09-07) 7 September 1987 (age 37)	6	Sunwolves
Yu Chinen	Prop	(1990-11-18) 18 November 1990 (age 34)	6	Toshiba Brave Lupus
Shintaro Ishihara	Prop	(1990-06-17) 17 June 1990 (age 35)	4	Suntory Sungoliath
Keita Inagaki	Prop	(1990-06-02) 2 June 1990 (age 35)	14	Sunwolves
Heiichiro Ito	Prop	(1990-10-05) 5 October 1990 (age 34)	5	Sunwolves
Koki Yamamoto	Prop	(1990-10-29) 29 October 1990 (age 34)	4	Sunwolves
Kyosuke Kajikawa	Lock	(1987-09-05) 5 September 1987 (age 37)	4	Sunwolves
Uwe Helu	Lock	(1990-07-12) 12 July 1990 (age 35)	4	Sunwolves
Shinya Makabe	Lock	(1987-03-26) 26 March 1987 (age 38)	34	Sunwolves
Kotaro Yatabe	Lock	(1986-07-29) 29 July 1986 (age 39)	13	Sunwolves
Yoshitaka Tokunaga	Flanker	(1992-04-10) 10 April 1992 (age 33)	5	Sunwolves
Hendrik Tui	Flanker	(1987-12-13) 13 December 1987 (age 37)	39	Queensland Reds
Michael Leitch	Flanker	(1988-10-07) 7 October 1988 (age 36)	48	Chiefs
Amanaki Mafi	Number 8	(1990-01-11) 11 January 1990 (age 35)	14	Melbourne Rebels
Shuhei Matsuhashi	Number 8	(1993-11-24) 24 November 1993 (age 31)	6	Sunwolves
Fumiaki Tanaka	Scrum-half	(1985-01-03) 3 January 1985 (age 40)	59	Sunwolves
Yutaka Nagare	Scrum-half	(1992-09-04) 4 September 1992 (age 32)	4	Sunwolves
Keisuke Uchida	Scrum-half	(1992-02-22) 22 February 1992 (age 33)	22	Sunwolves
Rikiya Matsuda	Fly-half	(1994-05-03) 3 May 1994 (age 31)	7	Panasonic Wild Knights
Jumpei Ogura	Fly-half	(1992-07-11) 11 July 1992 (age 33)	3	Sunwolves
Yu Tamura	Fly-half	(1989-01-09) 9 January 1989 (age 36)	43	Sunwolves
Harumichi Tatekawa (c)	Centre	(1989-12-02) 2 December 1989 (age 35)	51	Sunwolves
Derek Carpenter	Centre	(1988-07-26) 26 July 1988 (age 37)	1	Sunwolves
Timothy Lafaele	Centre	(1991-08-19) 19 August 1991 (age 33)	5	Sunwolves
Will Tupou	Centre	(1990-07-20) 20 July 1990 (age 35)	0	Sunwolves
Shota Emi	Wing	(1991-12-08) 8 December 1991 (age 33)	0	Sunwolves
Kenki Fukuoka	Wing	(1992-09-07) 7 September 1992 (age 32)	20	Sunwolves
Akihito Yamada	Wing	(1985-07-26) 26 July 1985 (age 40)	22	Panasonic Wild Knights
Kotaro Matsushima	Fullback	(1993-02-26) 26 February 1993 (age 32)	23	Sunwolves
Ryuji Noguchi	Fullback	(1995-07-15) 15 July 1995 (age 30)	9	Tokai University

Matches

First Test

17 June 2017 14:00 JST (UTC+09)

Japan	22–50	Ireland
Try: Noguchi 59' c Fukuoka 76' m Nagare 78' c Con: Matsuda (2/3) 60', 79' Pen: Tamura (1/1) 14'	Report	Try: Earls (2) 11' c, 70' m Leavy (2) 24' c, 28' c Conan (2) 30' c, 45' c Ringrose 65' c Con: Jackson (5/5) 12', 25', 29', 32', 46' R. Scannell (1/2) 66' Pen: Jackson (1/1) 6'

Shizuoka Stadium, Shizuoka Attendance: 27,381 Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

FB 15 Ryuji Noguchi RW 14 Kotaro Matsushima OC 13 Will Tupou IC 12 Derek Carpenter  66' LW 11 Kenki Fukuoka FH 10 Yu Tamura  58' SH 9 Fumiaki Tanaka  54' N8 8 Amanaki Mafi  40' OF 7 Yoshitaka Tokunaga BF 6 Michael Leitch RL 5 Uwe Helu  54' LL 4 Kotaro Yatabe TP 3 Heiichiro Ito 24' to 34'  58' HK 2 Shota Horie (c)  54' LP 1 Keita Inagaki  40' Replacements: HK 16 Yusuke Niwai  54' PR 17 Shintaro Ishihara  40' PR 18 Takuma Asahara  58' FL 19 Hendrik Tui  40' N8 20 Shuhei Matsuhashi  54' SH 21 Yutaka Nagare  54' CE 22 Ryohei Yamanaka  66' FB 23 Rikiya Matsuda  58' Coach: Jamie Joseph

FB 15 Simon Zebo  40' RW 14 Andrew Conway 51' to 61' OC 13 Garry Ringrose  67' IC 12 Rory Scannell LW 11 Keith Earls FH 10 Paddy Jackson  61' SH 9 Luke McGrath N8 8 Jack Conan  75' OF 7 Dan Leavy  53'  58' BF 6 Rhys Ruddock (c)  63'  72' RL 5 Devin Toner  61' LL 4 Quinn Roux TP 3 John Ryan  61'  78' HK 2 Niall Scannell  54' LP 1 Cian Healy  58' Replacements: HK 16 James Tracy  54' PR 17 Dave Kilcoyne  58' PR 18 Finlay Bealham  61'  78' LK 19 Kieran Treadwell  61' N8 20 Jack O'Donoghue  53'  58'  63'  72'  75' SH 21 Kieran Marmion  67' WG 22 Rory O'Loughlin  61' FB 23 Tiernan O'Halloran  40' Coach: Joe Schmidt

Touch judges: JP Doyle (England) Alexandre Ruiz (France) Television match official: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

Notes:

• Will Tupou (Japan) and Kieran Treadwell and Rory O'Loughlin (both Ireland) made their international debuts.

Second Test

24 June 2017 14:40 JST (UTC+09)

Japan	13–35	Ireland
Try: Matsushima 23' m Yamada 61' m Pen: Ogura (1/1) 14'	Report	Try: Ringrose 2' c van der Flier 10' c Marmion 16' c Ruddock 30' c Reidy 77' c Con: Jackson (5/5) 3', 11', 18', 31', 78'

Ajinomoto Stadium, Tokyo Attendance: 29,354 Referee: JP Doyle (England)

FB 15 Ryuji Noguchi  67' RW 14 Akihito Yamada OC 13 Kotaro Matsushima IC 12 Yu Tamura LW 11 Kenki Fukuoka FH 10 Jumpei Ogura  40' SH 9 Yutaka Nagare  52' N8 8 Amanaki Mafi OF 7 Shuhei Matsuhashi  67' BF 6 Michael Leitch (c) RL 5 Uwe Helu  63' LL 4 Luke Thompson TP 3 Takuma Asahara  40' HK 2 Yusuke Niwai  40' LP 1 Shintaro Ishihara  47' Replacements: HK 16 Shota Horie  40' PR 17 Keita Inagaki  47' PR 18 Takayuki Watanabe  40' LK 19 Kotaro Yatabe  63' FL 20 Yoshitaka Tokunaga  67' SH 21 Fumiaki Tanaka  52' FH 22 Rikiya Matsuda  40' CE 23 Ryohei Yamanaka  67' Coach: Jamie Joseph

FB 15 Andrew Conway RW 14 Keith Earls  54' OC 13 Garry Ringrose  78' IC 12 Luke Marshall LW 11 Jacob Stockdale FH 10 Paddy Jackson SH 9 Kieran Marmion  72' N8 8 Jack Conan OF 7 Josh van der Flier  67' BF 6 Rhys Ruddock (c)  54'  60' RL 5 Devin Toner LL 4 Kieran Treadwell  51' TP 3 John Ryan  60' HK 2 James Tracy  51' LP 1 Cian Healy  60' Replacements: HK 16 Niall Scannell  51' PR 17 Dave Kilcoyne  60' PR 18 Andrew Porter  60' LK 19 James Ryan  51' FL 20 Sean Reidy  54'  60'  67' SH 21 John Cooney  72' FH 22 Rory Scannell  78' FB 23 Tiernan O'Halloran  54' Coach: Joe Schmidt

Touch judges: Mathieu Raynal (France) Alexandre Ruiz (France) Television match official: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

Notes:

• John Cooney (Ireland) made his international debut.
• Michael Leitch (Japan) and Devin Toner (Ireland) earned their 50th test caps.

Statistics

Key

• Con: Conversions
• Pen: Penalties
• DG: Drop goals
• Pts: Points

Ireland statistics Name Played Tries Con Pen DG Pts Paddy Jackson 2 0 10 1 0 23 – – Jack Conan 2 2 0 0 0 10 – – Keith Earls 2 2 0 0 0 10 – – Dan Leavy 2 2 0 0 0 10 – – Garry Ringrose 2 2 0 0 0 10 – – Kieran Marmion 2 1 0 0 0 5 – – Sean Reidy 1 1 0 0 0 5 – – Rhys Ruddock 2 1 0 0 0 5 – – Josh van der Flier 1 1 0 0 0 5 – – Rory Scannell 2 0 1 0 0 2 – – Andrew Conway 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 – Cian Healy 2 0 0 0 0 0 - - Dave Kilcoyne 2 0 0 0 0 0 - - Tiernan O'Halloran 2 0 0 0 0 0 – – John Ryan 2 0 0 0 0 0 – – Devin Toner 2 0 0 0 0 0 – – James Tracy 2 0 0 0 0 0 – – Kieran Treadwell 2 0 0 0 0 0 – – Finlay Bealham 1 0 0 0 0 0 - – John Cooney 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – Luke Marshall 1 0 0 0 0 0 - - Luke McGrath 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – Jack O'Donoghue 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – Rory O'Loughlin 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – Andrew Porter 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – Sean Reidy 1 0 0 0 0 0 – - Quinn Roux 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – James Ryan 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – Jacob Stockdale 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – Simon Zebo 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – Joey Carbery – – – – – 0 – – Dave Heffernan – – – – – 0 – – Tommy O'Donnell – – – – – 0 – –

Test series statistics Name Team Tries Con Pen DG Pts Paddy Jackson  Ireland 0 10 1 0 23 Jack Conan  Ireland 2 0 0 0 10 Keith Earls  Ireland 2 0 0 0 10 Dan Leavy  Ireland 2 0 0 0 10 Garry Ringrose  Ireland 2 0 0 0 10 Kenki Fukuoka  Japan 1 0 0 0 5 Kieran Marmion  Ireland 1 0 0 0 5 Kotaro Matsushima  Japan 1 0 0 0 5 Yutaka Nagare  Japan 1 0 0 0 5 Ryuji Noguchi  Japan 1 0 0 0 5 Sean Reidy  Ireland 1 0 0 0 5 Rhys Ruddock  Ireland 1 0 0 0 5 Josh van der Flier  Ireland 1 0 0 0 5 Akihito Yamada  Japan 1 0 0 0 5 Rikiya Matsuda  Japan 0 2 0 0 4 Jumpei Ogura  Japan 0 0 1 0 3 Yu Tamura  Japan 0 0 1 0 3 Rory Scannell  Ireland 0 1 0 0 2

See also

• 2017 mid-year rugby union internationals