{"id":166540,"date":"2025-11-06T19:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/166540\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T19:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:09:10","slug":"caelan-doris-returns-to-lead-much-changed-ireland-team-for-visit-of-japan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/166540\/","title":{"rendered":"Caelan Doris returns to lead much-changed Ireland team for visit of Japan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

As expected, Caelan Doris<\/a> returns to captain Ireland<\/a> in Saturday\u2019s Autumn Nations Series game against Japan at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 12.40, live on RT\u00c92 & TNT Sports) as one of eight changes in the starting XV following last weekend\u2019s 26-13 loss to New Zealand in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Doris bridged a six-month absence from the game after recovering from shoulder surgery to play a total of 37 minutes off the bench in Soldier Field. <\/p>\n

In what is an uplifting and inspiring story, the late developing Munster centre Tom Farrell<\/a> will become the oldest back to make his debut for Ireland in the professional era after being named at outside centre. Released by Connacht the season before last, Farrell previously played for Lansdowne and Bedford Blues after failing to earn a pro contract with Leinster following his stint in their academy.<\/p>\n

His selection is a reward for a strong start to the season, augmenting his breakout campaign with Munster.<\/p>\n

With Stuart McCloskey injured, Robbie Henshaw is chosen ahead of Bundee Aki at inside centre, while Jacob Stockdale<\/a> is recalled at left wing.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old Ulster winger, Player of the Six Nations in Ireland\u2019s 2018 Grand Slam, makes just his third start since missing out on the 2023 World Cup, having played against Fiji last November and away to Georgia in June.<\/p>\n

Craig Casey is promoted at scrumhalf and will start alongside his Munster halfback partner Jack Crowley, who is retained at outhalf. <\/p>\n

\"JackJack Crowley will start at 10 against Japan. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Up front, R\u00f3nan Kelleher starts at hooker for the first time since the opening two games of last year\u2019s Six Nations against England and Scotland, and Thomas Clarkson wins his ninth cap and makes his fourth Test start at tight-head.<\/p>\n

The other change up front sees Nick Timoney chosen at openside. The 30-year-old Ulster player earned his fourth cap, and first since the Fijian game in November 2022, against Georgia in June. <\/p>\n

Gus McCarthy, Cian Prendergast and Jimmy O\u2019Brien are all promoted to the bench, where Paddy McCarthy, Finlay Bealham and Cian Prendergast are retained. Jack Conan and Jamison Gibson-Park move to the bench from last week\u2019s starting line-up.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to Saturday\u2019s game, Andy Farrell<\/a> said: \u201cI have been pleased with the application and diligence of the squad this week. Since returning from Chicago on Monday morning the squad have assessed the areas we need to collectively improve upon. It will be a battle against a Japan side who play the game in a positive manner and will look to ask questions of us. From our side we will look to be sharp and implement our game-plan and we\u2019re preparing for a big test.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom (Farrell) becomes our latest debutant and his is a real Roy of the Rovers story when you look at his journey in the game to this point. Tom has worked really hard to earn the right to represent his country and I know how proud he is to be involved this weekend after knocking on the selection door for the last few seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSaturday presents us with an opportunity to play in front of a packed Aviva Stadium. Playing at home is a privilege that we never take lightly and it\u2019s the start of an exciting three weeks of games as we look to build momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GarryGarry Ringrose in action against the All Blacks last Saturday. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Farrell also confirmed that Garry Ringrose, who was likely in line to start, had to step out of training on Wednesday with a hamstring twinge, while Tom Ahern may also have featured in the match day squad but for a head knock he suffered in training last Tuesday, leaving Tom Farrell to make his debut from the start rather than the bench. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mentioned it to the squad yesterday (Wednesday) and it was fantastic for me to do so,\u201d said the head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo stand him up in front of his peers and tell them the story. Six years ago now, I was obviously an assistant coach under Joe (Schmidt) and we brought Tom in for training camp and he never got selected. And six years later, here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s at the ripe old age of 32 but playing his best rugby and 100 per cent deserves a shot. Not just for the form that he\u2019s shown over the last couple of seasons, but also how he\u2019s applied himself when he\u2019s come into camp. So, that\u2019s been very impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the word resilience doesn\u2019t probably do it justice. He\u2019s kept on fighting and fighting and fighting and he gets to make his dream come true, which is play for Ireland in his debut on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Farrell will make his senior Ireland debut against Japan. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Farrell said the Munster centre was a quality player who\u2019d always been \u201cin the forefront of our minds\u201d but had been kept out by very good competition in the position. While the 32-year-old had not done anything in particular to merit a promotion this season, having not being picked on the summer tour to Georgia and Portugal, Farrell referenced a contact session in Chicago last Saturday week. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when he\u2019s at his best. He\u2019s a lot stronger than what you think, he breaks the line, he runs good lines etc. And it\u2019s those type of sessions where you see his class come through. He\u2019s done very well, I would say the difference in experience counts a lot because how he\u2019s come in this time round and hit the ground running has been completely different to how he would have handled it six years ago. It would have been a little bit daunting, I would have thought. His confidence has come on because of his form and he thoroughly deserves his chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farrell said a myriad of factors went into his namesake\u2019s selection, with a four-game autumnal itinerary and the travel to and form Chicago also taken into account. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I suppose the lads that don\u2019t get a chance to play this weekend, they\u2019re the ones brimming to get back. Because coming back to Dublin on the back of a loss isn\u2019t nice. You always want to get back on the horse. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the same time, the lads that get to go on to the field this weekend, they\u2019re the ones that have the chance to prove to the rest of them that they mean business. So, yes, I suppose everything comes into play.\u201d<\/p>\n

IRELAND (v Japan):<\/b> J Osborne (Leinster); T O\u2019Brien (Leinster), T Farrell (Munster), R Henshaw (Leinster), J Stockdale (Ulster); J Crowley (Munster), C Casey (Munster); A Porter (Leinster), R Kelleher (Leinster), T Clarkson (Leinster), J Ryan (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster), R Baird (Leinster), N Timoney (Ulster), C Doris (Leinster, capt)<\/p>\n

Replacements: <\/b>G McCarthy (Leinster), P McCarthy (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht), C Prendergast (Connacht), J Conan (Leinster), C Blade (Connacht), S Prendergast (Leinster), J O\u2019Brien (Leinster)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As expected, Caelan Doris returns to captain Ireland in Saturday\u2019s Autumn Nations Series game against Japan at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[70904,53479,18,19,17,34132,73724,95133,132,95134],"class_list":{"0":"post-166540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-andy-farrell","9":"tag-caelan-doris","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-ireland-rugby","14":"tag-jack-crowley","15":"tag-jacob-stockdale","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-tom-farrell"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115504334768716477","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}