Ireland Tour of Japan: Ireland's stand-in head coach Niall O'Donovan has made four changes to the team that beat Japan 44-12 for Sunday's second Test match at the Prince Chichibu stadium in Tokyo. The majority of the alterations had been flagged prior to travelling to Japan and were borne out in yesterday's team announcement.
The squad contained six outstanding back rows and yesterday the three, Denis Leamy, David Wallace and Eric Miller, who didn't play in the first Test at the Nagai stadium in Osaka, were promoted to the starting line-up. It's not a reflection on those who stand down, Alan Quinlan, Johnny O'Connor and Roger Wilson, but more an expediency driven and premeditated swap.
"We brought six back rows and the plan was to play them all," O'Donovan said. "It's not bad when you can call upon two ex-Lions and certainly one of the up and coming young back row players in Denis Leamy. They'll bring a different style to last week's, but I would be happy with either back row."
The new-look breakaway unit boasts more ball carriers and the Ireland coach conceded that he would be looking for them to get their hands on the ball and carry the game, literally, to the Japanese. He also intimated that he would allow them the latitude to mix and match when it comes to attacking and defending off set-pieces. "I'll be fairly flexible with them. They all bring their own bit to the party. It's to use them at their best and utilise their strengths."
The fourth change sees David Quinlan win a second cap at inside centre having come off the bench for Kevin Maggs with eight minutes to go the last day. O'Donovan enthused: "Dave (Quinlan) has shown a bit of promise there and there's no harm in giving him a start to see how he handles that."
Returning to the pack he confirmed that second rows Leo Cullen and Matt McCullough are both preoccupying the medical team at present. "We have a few knocks and bruises. There are a few guys there named in the team who won't be training today.
"Basically, the two second rows are in a spot of bother. They are small knocks, but they are stopping them from training and we just want to clear them up. Let's hold off another 24 hours and see how guys recover from today and see what they're like after training. We would hope to have the replacements finalised before we go training tomorrow morning."
Munsterlock Trevor Hogan, who made his debut the last day, would deputise if either player was forced to withdraw - if both failed to recover then O'Donovan would probably look to either Alan Quinlan or Roger Wilson to start in the second row. At this point, the Irish management is optimistic both players will be fit.
The decision to retain the front five en bloc is a reflection of not only a decent performance, but also the opportunity to keep some consistency and stability to the composition of the pack. As anticipated, David Humphreys is fit enough to return, but will only be an occasional participant in training for the remainder of the week.
His lip and teeth are getting better, but he won't risk too much contact ahead of Sunday's game. Quinlan's promotion allows the former Leinster centre the opportunity to press his case in what is a very competitive area for Irish rugby.
Maggs was excellent defensively in the first Test, but it was felt that it was timely to evaluate in more detail Quinlan's international credentials. He will form a centre partnership with Gavin Duffy. The latter looked sharp, as did wings Tommy Bowe and Anthony Horgan, and it is anticipated they will see more ball this Sunday.
Two uncapped players remain in the party - Kieran Lewis and Conor McPhillips - but unfortunately one might not make the match squad. Lewis can offer backup for a greater variety of positions so his claims may be the more compelling given that Jeremy Staunton and Kieran Campbell will cover the half backs.
The team trudged through a torrential downpour in Tokyo yesterday, the first time they have encountered extremely adverse conditions. However, the weather is expected to pick up again after today.
IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster); T Bowe (Ulster), G Duffy (Harlequins), D Quinlan (Northampton), A Horgan (Munster); D Humphreys (Ulster, capt), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), F Sheahan (Munster), S Best (Ulster); L Cullen (Leinster), M McCullough (Ulster); D Leamy (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), E Miller (Leinster). Replacements: tbc.
