Joe Schmidt Makes Six Changes For Ireland Team To Play Japan

Joe Schmidt has named the Ireland team for this weekend's second Test against Japan.

It features six changes from the side which hammered the Japanese 50-22 last Saturday.

In the forwards, Niall Scannell drops to the bench and is replaced by James Tracy at hooker. After making his Ireland debut last weekend, Kieran Treadwell takes a place in the second row at the expense of Quinn Roux. Josh van der Flier, who started the first game of the tour against USA, is back in the mix replacing Dan Leavy.

In the backs, Kieran Marmion takes the place of Luke McGrath at scrum-half. Luke Marshall is also back in the fold replacing Rory Scannell at inside centre while Jacob Stockdale comes into the starting XV in place of Simon Zebo. It means that Andrew Conway will move to fullback and Keith Earls switches wings.

The team will be captained once against by Rhys Ruddock.

Ireland team to play Japan:

15. Andrew Conway
14. Keith Earls
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Luke Marshall
11. Jacob Stockdale
10. Paddy Jackson
9. Kieran Marmion

1. Cian Healy
2. James Tracy
3. John Ryan
4. Kieran Treadwell
5. Devin Toner
6. Rhys Ruddock
7. Josh van der Flier
8. Jack Conan

There's one uncapped player on the bench: scrum-half John Cooney. The Connacht man would become the eighth debutant of the tour should he make an appearance off the bench.

Replacements:

16. Niall Scannell
17. Dave Kilcoyne
18. Andrew Porter
19. James Ryan
20. Sean Reidy
21. John Cooney
22. Rory Scannell
23. Tiernan O'Halloran

After playing in Fukuroi on Saturday, Ireland move up the road this weekend to play at the Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo.

The game kicks-off at 6:40am Irish time and is live on eirSport 2.

Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

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