In June 2017, Ireland played a two-test series against Japan as part of the 2017 mid-year rugby union tests. It was the first time Ireland had played a test series against Japan in Japan since 2005. The series was part of the fifth year of the global rugby calendar established by the International Rugby Board, which runs through to 2019.
Fixtures Date Venue Home Score Away 17 June 2017 Shizuoka Stadium, Shizuoka 22–50 24 June 2017 Ajinomoto Stadium, Tokyo 13–35
Squads Note: Ages, caps and clubs are as per 17 June, the first test match of the tour.
Ireland On 16 May 2017, Joe Schmidt named a 31-man squad for the 2017 Summer Tour. On 22 May, Connacht lock Quinn Roux was added to the squad. On 31 May, Tommy O'Donnell was ruled out of the tour due to an ankle injury. Following an ankle injury sustained in the test against the United States, fly-half Joey Carbery was ruled out of the remainder of the tour. Ulster's Sean Reidy was also called up to replace Tommy O'Donnell.
Coaching team: Head coach: Joe Schmidt Skills coach: Girvan Dempsey & Felix Jones Forwards coach: Simon Easterby
Japan On 29 May, Jamie Joseph named a 33-man squad ahead of their two-test series against Ireland and one-off test match against Romania.Le groupe japonais pour les tests matchs de juin 2017
Head Coach: Jamie Joseph
Matches First Test
FB 15Ryuji NoguchiRW 14Kotaro MatsushimaOC 13Will TupouIC 12Derek Carpenter LW 11Kenki FukuokaFH 10Yu Tamura SH 9 Fumiaki Tanaka N8 8 Amanaki Mafi OF 7 Yoshitaka TokunagaBF 6 Michael LeitchRL 5 Uwe Helu LL 4 Kotaro YatabeTP 3 Heiichiro Ito HK 2 Shota Horie (c) LP 1 Keita Inagaki Replacements:HK 16Yusuke Niwai PR 17Shintaro Ishihara PR 18Takuma Asahara FL 19Hendrik Tui N8 20Shuhei Matsuhashi SH 21Yutaka Nagare CE 22Ryohei Yamanaka FB 23Rikiya Matsuda Coach: Jamie Joseph FB 15Simon Zebo RW 14Andrew Conway OC 13Garry Ringrose IC 12Rory ScannellLW 11Keith EarlsFH 10Paddy Jackson SH 9 Luke McGrath N8 8 Jack Conan OF 7 Dan Leavy BF 6 Rhys Ruddock (c) RL 5 Devin Toner LL 4 Quinn RouxTP 3 John Ryan HK 2 Niall Scannell LP 1 Cian Healy Replacements:HK 16James Tracy PR 17Dave Kilcoyne PR 18Finlay Bealham LK 19Kieran Treadwell N8 20Jack O'Donoghue SH 21Kieran Marmion WG 22Rory O'Loughlin FB 23Tiernan O'Halloran Coach: Joe Schmidt Touch judges: JP Doyle (England) Alexandre Ruiz (France) Television match official: Glenn Newman (New Zealand) Notes: Will Tupou (Japan) and Kieran Treadwell and Rory O'Loughlin (both Ireland) made their international debuts.
Second Test
FB 15Ryuji Noguchi RW 14Akihito YamadaOC 13Kotaro MatsushimaIC 12Yu TamuraLW 11Kenki FukuokaFH 10Jumpei Ogura SH 9 Yutaka Nagare N8 8 Amanaki MafiOF 7 Shuhei Matsuhashi BF 6 Michael Leitch (c)RL 5 Uwe Helu LL 4 Luke ThompsonTP 3 Takuma Asahara HK 2 Yusuke Niwai LP 1 Shintaro Ishihara Replacements:HK 16Shota Horie PR 17Keita Inagaki PR 18Takayuki Watanabe LK 19Kotaro Yatabe FL 20Yoshitaka Tokunaga SH 21Fumiaki Tanaka FH 22Rikiya Matsuda CE 23Ryohei Yamanaka Coach: Jamie Joseph FB 15Andrew ConwayRW 14Keith Earls OC 13Garry Ringrose IC 12Luke MarshallLW 11Jacob StockdaleFH 10Paddy JacksonSH 9 Kieran Marmion N8 8 Jack ConanOF 7 Josh van der Flier BF 6 Rhys Ruddock (c) RL 5 Devin TonerLL 4 Kieran Treadwell TP 3 John Ryan HK 2 James Tracy LP 1 Cian Healy Replacements:HK 16Niall Scannell PR 17Dave Kilcoyne PR 18Andrew Porter LK 19James Ryan FL 20Sean Reidy SH 21John Cooney FH 22Rory Scannell FB 23Tiernan O'Halloran Coach: Joe Schmidt Touch judges: Mathieu Raynal (France) Alexandre Ruiz (France) Television match official: Glenn Newman (New Zealand) Notes: John Cooney (Ireland) made his international debut. Michael Leitch (Japan) and Devin Toner (Ireland) earned their 50th test caps.
Statistics Key Con: Conversions Pen: Penalties DG: Drop goals Pts: Points
Ireland statistics NamePlayedTriesConPenDGPtsPaddy Jackson20101023––Jack Conan2200010––Keith Earls2200010––Dan Leavy2200010––Garry Ringrose2200010––Kieran Marmion210005––Sean Reidy110005––Rhys Ruddock210005––Josh van der Flier110005––Rory Scannell201002––Andrew Conway2000001–Cian Healy200000--Dave Kilcoyne200000--Tiernan O'Halloran200000––John Ryan200000––Devin Toner200000––James Tracy200000––Kieran Treadwell200000––Finlay Bealham100000-–John Cooney100000––Luke Marshall100000--Luke McGrath100000––Jack O'Donoghue100000––Rory O'Loughlin100000––Andrew Porter100000––Sean Reidy100000–-Quinn Roux100000––James Ryan100000––Jacob Stockdale100000––Simon Zebo100000––Joey Carbery–––––0––Dave Heffernan–––––0––Tommy O'Donnell–––––0––
Test series statistics NameTeamTriesConPenDGPtsPaddy Jackson0101023Jack Conan200010Keith Earls200010Dan Leavy200010Garry Ringrose200010Kenki Fukuoka10005Kieran Marmion10005Kotaro Matsushima10005Yutaka Nagare10005Ryuji Noguchi10005Sean Reidy10005Rhys Ruddock10005Josh van der Flier10005Akihito Yamada10005Rikiya Matsuda02004Jumpei Ogura00103Yu Tamura00103Rory Scannell01002
See also 2017 mid-year rugby union internationals
References