Ireland’s Johnny Sexton to become Test centurion

Planet Rugby

Johnny Sexton will become the seventh Ireland player to reach 100 caps after being named in their team to face Japan at the Aviva Stadium.

The fly-half is not the only one to reach a significant milestone with tighthead Tadhg Furlong earning his 50th cap.

Sexton will captain the side on his 100th appearance for Ireland. He is joined at half-back by Jamison Gibson-Park with Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose reunited in the centre for the first time since the rescheduled Six Nations fixture against Italy in October 2020.

Hugo Keenan starts at full-back in his 14th consecutive game for Ireland and is flanked in the backfield by Andrew Conway and James Lowe.

Andrew Porter at loosehead

Furlong is joined in the front-row by Andrew Porter, who makes his first international start at loosehead, with Ronan Kelleher named at hooker.

James Ryan and Tadhg Beirne are named at lock and the Leinster trio of Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan make up the back-row.

The replacements named for Saturday’s game are uncapped hooker Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, Iain Henderson, Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray, Joey Carbery and Keith Earls.

In July, the two sides produced a nine-try thriller with Ireland emerging 39-31 victors.

Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (c), 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Caelan Doris, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Keith Earls

Date: Saturday, November 6
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 13:00 GMT
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant Referees: Damon Murphy (Australia), Pierre Brousset (France)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)