Debutants shine for Ireland in nine-try win v Japan

Japan 22-57 Ireland

The best performance from this Irish team in several years, although for the first 10 minutes it looked like anything but.

In coming from 15-0 down, Greg McWilliams' side produced their biggest ever comeback, but did so without drama, eventually running in nine tries in a dominant 57-22 win.

Neve Jones joined the illustrious company of Lynne Cantwell, Sophie Spence and Alison Miller, becoming the fourth Irish woman to score a Test hat-trick, all three coming off the back of dominant mauls where she connected with captain Nichola Fryday.

After working under John McKee and Denis Fogarty in recent weeks, the lineout, maul and scrum were the foundation on which Ireland built their game, while the inexperienced backline played with confidence and skill.

Dannah O'Brien ran things from out-half, with the 18-year-old debutant kicking six of her nine conversion attempts, while Aoife Dalton and Méabh Deely also marked their first caps with tries.

Dalton's score gave Ireland their first lead of the game just before half-time, after Jones and Aoife Doyle had earlier brought Ireland back into it.

Leading 19-15 at half-time, Ireland never looked like losing from that point. Jones scored twice more to complete her hattrick, while Chloe Pearse, Molly Scuffil-McCabe and Emma Hooban also ran in late tries to bring Ireland past their half-century.