Irish plan solid start and stylish finishing

Pacey, inventive and utterly game, Japan have been the entertainers, even drawing the admiration of opposing fans as well as the neutrals. In contrast, in previous games Ireland have reverted to the role of plodding schoolyard bullies. Today, though, Lansdowne Road expects its men in green to be the entertainers.

Whereas in the countries' only two meetings Ireland resorted to sticking the ball up their jumpers, the relative high jinks and youthful rejuvenation of last season demands that Ireland show some style this time around.

Tellingly, in those World Cup clashes of 1991 and 1995, eight of Ireland's 11 tries came through forwards, including the couple of penalty tries in the latter meeting when Ireland flirted with the most ignominious defeat in their history before mauling the Japanese off the Bloemfontein pitch to win 50-28 and heaving a sigh of relief.

Admittedly, a bit of bullying might have to come first. Wary of shooting from the hip right from the start, Ireland coach Warren Gatland yesterday said: "We can't end up too loose in that first 15 minutes or so. There's also a game next week (against the Springboks) which we're trying to focus on. Eddie O'Sullivan (backs coach) has applied a great saying they use in America, we need to rag doll them early on."

So Gatland ideally wants Ireland to be pretty direct and physical in the early stages, thereby setting the platform for the hoped-for exhibition stuff. Yet Goliath status invariably rests uneasily with Ireland teams, and there is a nagging suspicion that Ireland are in something of a no-win situation. With three injuries in their 26-man squad, Japan have only changed six of the starting line-up which lost 83-13 to the Irish under-25s last Tuesday, a double-edged sword when the result comes to be considered.

Gatland pointed out yesterday that the return of key players will strengthen the visitors. "Having seen Japan against France A (when they lost by only 14 points, 40-26) the attitude of their players seemed a lot better than it was on Tuesday night, they defended well and were a lot more aggressive. So I think it's going to be a lot stiffer of a test than they put up on Tuesday."

He laughed off a suggestion that Ireland might score 100 points.

The Irish coaches have seen both sides of the tourists in the past week. They were eminently more impressed by their quick-rucking, technically-adept recycling of the ball as opposed to the way their defence fell away last Tuesday. Presumably, a Test atmosphere in front of a 20,000-plus crowd, as opposed to a chilly midweek night in front of a couple of hundred, will be more inspiring for the tourists.

The introduction of their outhalf and record points scorer Keiji Hirose (unused at Ravenhill) against the French A side last week apparently had a particularly galvanic effect while their eye-catching World Cup winger Daisuke Ohata has switched to full back.

Even so, in their post-World Cup rebuilding phase, with only five of that starting line-up and without the bulk of their naturalised New Zealanders, Japan are clearly on what might euphemistically be called a learning curve and are still recovering from losing all their games in the World Cup and Epson Cup.

At the height of last season's revival, post-Paris, Ireland were on a roll of three wins and today could conceivably have been the chance to set a new record of eight successive Test wins. But they were unable to cope with favouritism against Wales, failed to take chances and press home their advantage away to Argentina and, worst of all, produced an unprofessional and weary draw in Canada. Ireland thus have just one win from their last four games.

The manner of that win, a ruthless 83-3 defeat of the US Eagles - though unlikely to be emulated on the scoreboard - is the most relevant benchmark for today's game. Ireland will hope for a solid, professional start, with both the scrums and line-outs to yield a high return against an inexperienced visiting pack and ruthless defence. The home side can then apply the gloss, without recourse to sticking it up their jumpers.

Essentially a preparatory outing for next week's biggie, anything more than this scenario would be a bonus, anything less a cause of egg on faces.

Ireland v Japan,

Lansdowne Road, 3.0 (RTE and BBC)

IRELAND: G Murphy (Leicester); D Hickie (St Mary's), B O'Driscoll (Blackrock), S Horgan (Lansdowne), T Howe (Dungannon); R O'Gara (Cork Constitution), P Stringer (Shannon); P Clohessy (Young Munster), K Wood (Harlequins), capt, J Hayes (Shannon), P Johns (Dungannon), M O'Kelly (St Mary's), A Ward (Ballynahinch), A Foley (Shannon), K Dawson (London Irish). Replacements: F Sheahan (Cork Constitution), J Fitzpatrick (Dungannon), G Longwell (Ballymena), E Miller (Terenure), B O'Meara (Cork Constitution), D Humphreys (Dungannon), R Henderson (Wasps).

JAPAN: D Ohata; M Oda, R Kawai, H Namba, P Tuidraki; K Hirose, K Ohara (capt); T Fumihara, N Yasuda, N Nakamura, K Todd, H Tanuma, H Sugawara, T Ito, K Kubo. Replacements: M Amino, M Toyoyama, T Akatsuka, N Watanabe, M Ito, S Fuchigami, H Yoshida.

Referee: N Whitehouse (Wales).

Previous meetings: 1991 (World Cup) at Lansdowne Road, Ireland 32 Japan 16; 1995 (World Cup) in Bloemfontein, Ireland 50 Japan 28.

Last five Tests: Ireland - W L L W D. Japan - L L L L L.

Forecast: Ireland by 35-plus.