{"id":553359,"date":"2025-11-06T17:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T17:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/553359\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T17:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T17:44:13","slug":"andy-farrell-wields-the-axe-as-eight-changes-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/553359\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell wields the axe as EIGHT changes made"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Farrell has confirmed wholesale changes to his latest Ireland team, making eight alterations following the loss to the All Blacks that includes handing 32-year-old rookie Tom Farrell his debut.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Irish fell flat last weekend in Chicago<\/a>, running out of gas in the final quarter and seeing a 13-7 lead against New Zealand transformed into a 13-26 defeat.<\/p>\n

Farrell has reacted by changing four of his starting backs and four of his forwards as they look to get their Autumn Nations Series on track when they host Japan<\/a> in Dublin on Saturday before the arrival of Australia and South Africa in the following weeks.<\/p>\n

There is one alteration to the starting back three with Jacob Stockdale<\/a> coming on the left wing in place of James Lowe to join full-back Jamie Osborne and right wing Tommy O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

Jack Crowley preferred again over Sam Prendergast<\/p>\n

There is a new midfield partnership with the debut-making Farrell<\/a> paired with Robbie Henshaw instead of last Saturday\u2019s starters, Garry Ringrose and Stuart McCloskey who are both injured.<\/p>\n

Fly-half selection was the major talking point leading into the match with New Zealand, with Jack Crowley preferred over Sam Prendergast. Farrell has again plumped for Crowley to start against the Japanese, but with Craig Casey his scrum-half partner on this occasion with Jamison Gibson-Park missing out.<\/p>\n

In the pack, Andrew Porter, James Ryan, the rescinded red-carded Tadhg Beirne and Ryan Baird are the four starters from the USA who are retained. They will be joined up front by hooker Ronan Kelleher, tighthead Thomas Clarkson, openside Nick Timoney and number eight Caelan Doris, who has been reinstated as captain following his comeback from injury off the bench last weekend.<\/p>\n

Brian O\u2019Driscoll: Rugby will never break America \u2018in a big way\u2019 in wake of Ireland v All Blacks \u2018farce\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ireland: Tadhg Beirne learns disciplinary fate after controversial sending off<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dan Sheahan, Tadhg Furlong and Josh van der Flier have all been omitted, but Jack Conan has been kept involved as he has been chosen on a replacements bench that includes fresh faces in hooker Gus McCarthy, second-row Cian Prendergast, scrum-half Caolin Blade and utility back Jimmy O\u2019Brien. Iain Henderson and Bundee Aki drop off the bench.<\/p>\n

Head coach Farrell said: \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.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom 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. In congratulating him on his selection, I would like to wish Tom the best of luck.<\/p>\n

Ireland team: Five takeaways as Andy Farrell backs \u2018new old kid\u2019 and \u2018two-fingered salute\u2019 delivered to bungling officials<\/a><\/p>\n

Johnny Sexton\u2019s Eddie Jones swipe and how Ireland boss Andy Farrell \u2018keeps us accountable\u2019 since All Blacks loss<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ex-Ireland forward explains how lack of \u2018world-class operators\u2019 in key area is affecting Andy Farrell\u2019s side<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a battle against a Japanese side that 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. We are preparing for a big test.<\/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

Team v Japan in full<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/strong>: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Tommy O\u2019Brien, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 James Ryan, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2. Ronan Kelleher, 1. Andrew Porter
Replacements<\/strong>: 16 Gus McCarthy, Paddy McCarthy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Cian Prendergast, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Sam Prendergast, 23 Jimmy O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n

Date<\/strong>: Saturday, November 8
Venue<\/strong>: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off<\/strong>: 12:40 (local) 21:40 (JPN)
Referee:<\/strong> Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
Assistant Referees<\/strong>: Andrea Piardi (FIR), Federico Vedovelli (FIR)
TMO<\/strong>: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
FRPO<\/strong>: Eric Gauzins (FFR)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: All Blacks team: Winners and losers as Scott Robertson shows his \u2018ruthless side\u2019 while returning forward deserves chance after \u2018wretched luck\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell has confirmed wholesale changes to his latest Ireland team, making eight alterations following the loss to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[6162,225,90462,678,2122,12,4151,79,177087,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-553359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-andy-farrell","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-internationals","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-japan","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-rugby","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tom-farrell","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}