Injury has informed Ireland head coach Greg McWilliams’ selection decisions ahead of Saturday’s second Test against Japan at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo (11.0am Irish time, live on TG4). There are three changes and two positional switches to the side that thumped the home team 57-22 last weekend in Shizuoka.
Dorothy Wall and Sam Monaghan are unavailable for selection due to injury, while Christy Haney and Nicole Cronin, who both came off the bench last week, are also ruled out of consideration for a similar reason. The backline is unchanged, but Laura Feely comes in at loosehead prop with Linda Djougang switching to the other side of the frontrow.
Hannah O’Connor, who started last week’s first Test at number eight moves into the secondrow to partner captain, Nicola Fryday, while Grace Moore will start in the number eight jersey for the first time.
Netherlands-born Jo Brown, who won the last of seven caps for England in 2019, will make her debut at blindside flanker in place of Wall. McWilliams explained his decision in selecting the 28-year-old Worcester Warriors flanker. “When I got the job, one of the first things I did was connect with Joe Lydon and Steve McGinnis, who run the IQ [Irish Qualified] programme.
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“There are a wide range of players that are Irish-qualified, and Jo is one of them. I love how she goes about her business; she’s very tough and abrasive, and I was impressed with what I saw.
“Anybody out there who qualifies for Ireland, and they are up for playing international rugby, I’m going to have a look at them. We had a good opportunity to bring her over to Japan and this is her chance to play for Ireland. It was relatively seamless; we went through all the paperwork with World Rugby.
“I just want Ireland to get better and continuously improve. She is going to add good value to that. I don’t see it as anything other than a player who is available for selection for Ireland, and we are going with that this weekend.”
Jess Keating, who has been playing with Life University in the US, and Emma Tilly are in line to win their first caps off the bench. Emma Hooban, Chloe Pearse and Katie O’Dwyer provide the frontrow reinforcements.
McWilliams said of Tilly that “[she] deserved a chance. She is from Barnhall club, has good speed and is a very good learner. She has worked so hard, and I think we need to reward people who are buying into what we are doing here. She really has epitomised it.”
Ireland scored nine tries last week in what became a facile win after a ropy opening in which they conceded some soft scores to their hosts as Japan jumped into a 15-0 lead. McWilliams was pleased with the way his young team reacted to adversity.
“Yeah, I was really happy with that. The team is bigger than any individual. And you saw that when things were tough. They rallied together and were able to problem solve and change their approach to starter plays, particularly when we saw defensive glitches. And they were able to react to that and that is a really encouraging thing because it is a sign they are using their brain.
“You need to be smart, something that sits above the technical and tactical progression as a team, the ability to understand why you are doing what you’re doing. And that is the most pleasing thing.
“Because the way this game is going, it is a smart woman’s game. It is about being smart and making good decisions. There were some decisions that were poor, and we were able to reflect on them [to] see if we can reduce them this weekend and be a little more clinical in some other areas.”
McWilliams responded to a question about the most pleasing aspects of the Irish victory from his perspective thus: “Regardless of the result, I was looking at players who were comfortable in that setting and who were ambitiously trying to stick to a vision that they have set.
“As a staff, our goal is to try to guide them through a bit of a plan. But seeing them stick to a plan that they trust is really encouraging. Because this week, hopefully things go well, and if they don’t we know where we are and we will improve on things. But that was definitely the most encouraging.
“I did say that I hoped the people watching at home would see an evolution in how we’re going about our business, and I think we saw that last week. This weekend we will have a plan and we hope it works. If it doesn’t we will have to dust ourselves off and work from it.
“Between now and where we want to get to, we are going to make mistakes; have days that are going to be tough and great days. I was really pleased with how they stuck to task and backed each other up. If you have that, it’s a good thing.”
IRELAND: Méabh Deely (Blackrock College/Connacht); Natasja Behan (Blackrock College/Leinster), Aoife Dalton (Tullamore RFC/Leinster), Enya Breen (Munster), Aoife Doyle (Railway Union/Munster); Dannah O’Brien (Tullow/Leinster), Ailsa Hughes (Railway Union/Leinster); Laura Feely (Blackrock College/Connacht), Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury/Ulster), Linda Djougang (Leinster); Hannah O’Connor (Blackrock College/Leinster), Nichola Fryday (Exeter Chiefs/Connacht, capt); Jo Brown (Worcester Warriors/IQ Rugby), Edel McMahon (Exeter Chiefs/IQ Rugby), Grace Moore (Saracens/IQ Rugby).
Replacements: Emma Hooban (Blackrock College/Leinster), Chloe Pearse (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster), Katie O’Dwyer (Railway Union/Leinster), Taryn Schutzler (Saracens/Ulster), Jess Keating (Life University/Leinster), Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Railway Union/Leinster), Leah Tarpey (Tullamore/Leinster), Emma Tilly (MU Barnhall RFC/Leinster).
