Ireland v Japan: Leinster's dominance in squad can motivate other provinces says Paul O'Connell

Twelve of Ireland's starting XV for Saturday's game against Japan play for Leinster

Leinster's dominance in the Irish team can motivate other provinces to produce more international players, says Ireland forwards coach Paul O'Connell.

Twelve of Ireland's starting XV for Saturday's game against Japan play for Leinster, while two of the other three are products of their academy.

Connacht have two players in the matchday 23 while Ulster have only one.

"I would say every province would want to have more Irish players in their squad," said O'Connell.

"I remember when I first came into the Irish team under Declan Kidney we had a big goals sheet and one of the top goals was more Munster players playing for a winning Ireland.

"I'm sure it's a concern for the provinces. It makes them produce players, it makes them go hard on their domestic game and structures, it makes them go and work hard on their academy structures to keep producing players."

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Leinster have been the dominant force in Irish rugby for some time, winning the Pro14 in each of the last four seasons with four European Cup triumphs since 2009.

Their international contingent outweighs the other provinces regularly, however the selection for the Japan game laid bare the scale of their dominance within the Irish rugby landscape.

"From our point of view, I only found out about it when I read it myself yesterday so it's not something we really pay attention to or discuss or worry about, we just try and pick what we think is right on the day," O'Connell said.

"In my time of travelling round the provinces I just see incredible work being done; I see a level of coaching now that is fantastic. The level of coaching underneath that in some of the academies is fantastic as well."

Ireland and Japan met in a highly entertaining game four months ago

'Excellently coached' Japan expect to be at free-flowing best

On Saturday Ireland will play Japan for the third time in just over two years, with the Brave Blossoms claiming a famous win at their home World Cup in the first of those meetings.

The sides met again in the summer as Ireland secured victory in a highly entertaining nine-try contest in Dublin, where Japan's free-flowing brand of rugby was again on full display.

"They're an excellently-coached team. That's what Andy said coming into the summer - at the World Cup they had brilliant players but they were brilliantly coached as well, and coached the right way I think," said O'Connell, who brought about rapid improvement in Ireland's set-piece during this year's Six Nations upon joining the coaching staff.

"They're not overcoached... they still have this attitude to go and play and would seem to be backed to chase the unpredictable, chase offloads and take chances.

"Then they've incredible structure as well. They get brilliant ball of their line-out, we struggled to get after them there during the summer (and) it's probably a bit part of how Australia managed to get a result against them, they managed to stop that part of their game.

"Sometimes they're really scripted, they seem to have a real license to play and go and offload as well - and then they've managed to pick teams off in maul tries."

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