Ireland vs Japan player ratings as Johnny Sexton starred on his 100th appearance for the men in green as they cruised to a convincing 60-5 victory in Dublin.
The fly-half scored 17 points, which included a memorable second-half try along with four conversions and a penalty.
In truth, Andy Farrell’s men barely had to get out of second gear with an undercooked Cherry Blossoms, who beat the Irish during the 2019 Rugby World Cup, struggling to make any impact at the Aviva Stadium
The hosts dominated from the off with a brace of tries from speedster Andrew Conway and single scores from James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park adding to nine points from the boot of skipper Sexton to make it 29-0 at half-time.
Further scores from Sexton and Bundee Aki saw the Irish go even further clear before Siosaia Fifita crossed from a rare Japan attack to get the visitors on the scoreboard.
But Ireland finished as they started with Garry Ringrose and Cian Healy touching down while Conway also completed his treble late on.
Scroll down for Ireland vs Japan player ratings.
IRELAND (29): 60
- Tries: Lowe 3, Conway 10,18,74 Gibson-Park 33, Sexton 47, Aki 54, Ringrose 69, Healy 80
- Cons: Sexton 5,12,35,50, Carbery 70,80
- Pens: Sexton 23
JAPAN (0): 5
- Tries: Fifita 56
- Cons:
- Pens:
PRIME VIDEO MAN OF THE MATCH:
IRELAND STATSZONE:
- Most carries: Jack Conan 15
- Most metres made: James Lowe 150
- Most tackles: Caelan Doris 12
- Most tackles missed: Garry Ringrose 2
- Offloads: James Lowe 5
- Turnovers won: Jack Conan 2
- Turnovers conceded: James Ryan 2
Ireland vs Japan player ratings:
Ireland: Keenan 7; Conway 8.5; Ringrose 7.5, Aki 8; Lowe 8.5; Sexton (capt) 9.5, Gibson Park 8; Porter 8, Kelleher 7, Furlong 7.5; Beirne 8, Ryan 6.5; Doris 7.5, van der Flier 7, Conan 8.
Japan: Matushima 6; Riley 6; Lafaele 5, Nakamura 5; Fifita 6; Tamura 4, Nagare 4; Inagaki 4, Sakate 4, Koo 4; Cornelsen 5.5, Moore 4; Gunter 3, Labuschagne (capt) 8, Himeno 5.
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