Jonathan Bradley
BBC Sport NI senior journalist

Image source, Inpho

Ireland's first meeting with Japan in 1985 was not, at the time, granted full Test status.

It was only in 2023 that the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) retroactively bestowed such billing upon the two-game tour.

That meant good news for Rab Brady whose only games for the Ireland senior side came on the trip. The Ulster scrum-half, who was player of the match when his province beat Australia in 1984, was awarded his first Test cap 39 years after the fact.

The IRFU chose not to update the cap or try tallies of those who had appeared previously or latterly for the side, meaning the hat-trick scored by Brady's provincial team-mate Trevor Ringland in the 48-13 win in Osaka remains absent from the official record.

Ireland made tougher work of the second game between the sides when the scores were level at 12-12 at half-time before the visitors pulled away to win 33-15.

Ireland have had some crackers against Japan over the years.

This weekend's hosts have got the better of things on 12 occasions, although, the sole exception at the 2019 World Cup is of course the most memorable of their past meetings.

Other games have brought significant milestones, unfortunate injuries and a few entertaining encounters.

Jonathan Bradley takes a trip down memory lane....

Matt Gault
BBC Sport NI senior journalist

Image source, Getty Images

For a long time, it seemed like Caelan Doris was heading for the biggest summer of his life with the British and Irish Lions.

The checkpoints along the way were all met. Six weeks after his appointment as Leinster captain in September 2024, Andy Farrell chose the back-rower to lead Ireland before their autumn Tests, taking over from Peter O'Mahony.

Farrell's decision to elevate Doris established him as the frontrunner for the Lions captaincy and that remained the case until the 27-year-old went off injured during Leinster's Investec Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton in May.

Having not had much experience with shoulder issues, Doris hoped it wasn't too serious. A scan the following day, however, confirmed his worst fears: he would miss the Lions tour to Australia.

It was a cruel blow, especially considering he effectively ruled himself out of the 2021 Lions tour when he opted to skip the Six Nations to address concussion symptoms.

Now, though, he feels "mentally stronger".

"[I was] gutted initially," said Doris, who returns to the Ireland starting line-up for today's Test against Japan after coming off the bench in last week's defeat by the All Blacks.

"I really felt it, I allowed the emotion to come through and, as a result, process it and see the positives and move on quite quickly and frame it in a positive way as the halfway point in my career and reset and do things I couldn't have done had I been playing rugby that summer."

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Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher says players must fulfil their individual responsibilities better if the squad is to bounce back in their three home autumn internationals after losing to New Zealand in Chicago.

The All Blacks secured a 26-13 comeback win over Andy Farrell's side at Soldier Field, with the Irish now set to face Japan on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, then Australia and South Africa at the same venue.

Tadhg Beirne had his initial yellow card after three minutes of the contest with New Zealand upgraded to a 20-minute red and although Ireland led 13-7 early in the second half, a flurry of three tries in the space of 15 minutes in the final quarter of the game saw their opponents avenge their loss at the same venue nine years previously.

Beirne's sanction was subsequently rescinded on appeal.

"Obviously it wasn't what we wanted. We went there with a plan, but we obviously didn't execute it," said Kelleher.

"It was more us not doing our jobs to the best of our ability really and on the day, we weren't good enough.

"I think it just came down to our execution on the day. We just got it wrong at times."

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Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said Tadhg Beirne's disciplinary hearing was a "distraction" for the player this week.

Beirne was sent off in the third minute of his side's 26-13 defeat by New Zealand last weekend but is available to start against Japan after the card was rescinded.

The Munster forward was initially shown a yellow card for a challenge on All Black fly-half Beauden Barrett in Chicago but the decision was upgraded to a 20-minute red card during the game after a bunker review.

On Tuesday an independent disciplinary committee found that "whilst an act of foul play had occurred, it did not meet the red card threshold" leaving Beirne free to take his place alongside James Ryan in Ireland's second row against the Brave Blossoms.

"It's a distraction for Tadhg," said Farrell.

"You can't obviously select a side or know for definite what's going to happen, even if you're putting your mortgage on trying to presume [the decision would be overturned].

"There's a distraction in going through the process, the amount of emails flying around and then the hearing itself. I sat through it with Tadhg, it's not nice."

Ireland captain Caelan Doris has been named in the starting XV for today's autumn international against Japan in Dublin.

The Leinster back-row forward returned from injury as a replacement during last week's 26-13 loss to New Zealand but is deemed fit to start as head coach Andy Farrell rings the changes from their trip to Chicago.

Joining him in the back row are Ryan Baird at blindside flanker, with Ulster's Nick Timoney at openside.

Tadhg Beirne, whose early red card following a bunker review against the All Blacks was subsequently rescinded, is back in the second row alongside James Ryan.

However, Ulster's Stuart McCloskey, who picked up a groin injury in Ireland's autumn opener, is not part of the matchday squad with Munster's Tom Farrell selected to make his Test debut alongside Robbie Henshaw.

Jacob Stockdale will win his 40th cap as he returns on the wing for the first time since picking up a shoulder injury in the summer Test against Georgia.

Craig Casey gets the nod to partner Munster team-mate Jack Crowley at half-back, while Ronan Kelleher and Thomas Clarkson come into the front row alongside Andrew Porter who retains his place from the defeat by New Zealand.

Ireland: J Osborne; T O'Brien, T Farrell , R Henshaw, J Stockdale; J Crowley, C Casey; A Porter, R Kelleher, T Clarkson; J Ryan, T Beirne; R Baird , N Timoney, C Doris (capt)

Replacements: G McCarthy, P McCarthy, F Bealham, C Prendergast, J Conan, C Blade, S Prendergast, J O'Brien.

Japan: Y Yazaki; K Ishida, D Riley, C Lawrence, T Osada; S Lee, N Saito; K Kobayashi, K Sato, S Takeuchi; E Uluiviti, W Dearns; B Gunter, K Shimokawa, F Makisi.

Replacements: S Hirao, R Iwaihara, K Tamefusa, J Cornelsen, M Leitch, S Fujiwara, S Komura, Y Hirose.

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Ireland scrum-half Craig Casey says he "doesn't want to be second choice" as he vies with Jamison Gibson-Park for a starting berth.

Casey came off the bench against New Zealand in the 26-13 loss to win his 21st cap for Ireland.

He captained a largely second-string Ireland in their summer tour and is eager to get more game time with the main core of players returning this autumn from the Lions tour.

Casey will partner Jack Crowley at half-back in today's game.

"I haven't got to the place I want to be in an Ireland jersey yet," he said.

"I don't want to be second choice; I haven't wanted to be third choice over the last few years but it's about taking the chance when I do get it.

"I hope to think I'm fairly close [to starting], I've pushed a lot over the last 12 months, but I've a lot of respect for Jamo."

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Former Ireland and Munster back Andrew Conway had "hard conversations" with Joe Schmidt when making the switch from Leinster to Munster.

The 34-year-old, whose career ended in 2023 because of a knee injury, had made 42 appearances for his home province at the time when offered a contract with fierce rivals Munster.

Although he had been invited to the Munster Academy as a teenager when leaving Dublin's Blackrock College, Conway at that stage opted to stay at home.

However, speaking to The Ireland Rugby Social podcast, he felt eventually making the switch to Thomond Park in 2013 was the "best decision" he made in his career despite how his then provincial coach Schmidt heard the news.

"I trust my intuition and just felt it was the right thing to do, even though it was the hard thing to do," he said.

"I signed the contract on the Thursday and Joe had rang me an hour after I had signed it, saying 'don't sign anything but come in and talk to me on Saturday'. I didn't have the forethought to say I'd signed so just said 'yeah, grand'.

"On Friday, I went over to London to a football match with a couple of mates and came back the worse for wear on the Saturday. My agent had rang and said Gerry Thornley (of The Irish Times) knew about me signing and it was going into the paper, so Joe would have known.

"I went in and got the head eaten off me, but a few hours later I find out why he was so annoyed - Johnny Sexton had signed for Racing and it was coming out, so my thing was small fish."

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This week's guest on the Ireland Rugby Social is former Ireland wing Andrew Conway.

The 34-year-old won 30 caps for his country and was part of Joe Schmidt's World Cup squad in 2019.

Conway sits down with former team-mate Conor Murray and BBC Sport NI presenter Gavin Andrews to discuss his career in green as well as his move from Leinster to Munster.

Listen and subscribe to the Ireland Rugby Social now on BBC Sounds.

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Head coach Andy Farrell says there must be "zero excuses" from Ireland during the rest of their autumn campaign after Saturday's defeat by New Zealand in Chicago.

In Farrell's first game back after leading the British and Irish Lions in the summer, Ireland lost 26-13 to the All Blacks after leading 13-7 with 20 minutes left at Soldier Field despite Tadhg Beirne's controversial third-minute red card.

Before Chicago, much had been made about the lack of minutes several Ireland players had in their legs since the Lions.

"There's zero excuses from here on," Farrell said after suffering a third straight loss to New Zealand.

"I get all you guys talking, it's just common sense isn't it, what you're talking about as far as match sharpness and the start of the season and all of that, but that's been and gone now, we need to buckle down."

He added: "If we can't stand up to that challenge, then we shouldn't be here anyway."

After last week's defeat in Chicago, the pressure is on for Ireland to bounce back this week.

Do you think they will? You can have your say using 'Get Involved' both pre-match and throughout the game.

Let us know your predictions, and your thoughts on the game's big moments.

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Johnny Sexton said the Ireland camp was "pretty disappointed" in the aftermath of the reverse at the hands of New Zealand and the past few days had provided time for reflection on what went wrong and what could be improved.

"We feel we prepared really well over the past two weeks and we didn't get it out there on Saturday which is the most disappointing thing.

"We prepared properly and we had a good plan but we didn't quite execute it. The players have been pretty open and honest and as coaches we've discussed it over the last couple of days and figured out why.

"That's the most important thing, we've got to take the learnings from it and make sure it doesn't happen again."

The 40-year-old says a combination of factors led to Ireland's demise against the three-time World Cup winners.

"It's a lot of things, it can't be just one thing, it's a little bit of everything. A couple of penalties, a couple of inaccuracies in our attack, a couple of kicks, a couple of missed tackles.

"It's trying to turn the page and taking the lessons. Andy [Farrell] is always very good at that. We move on pretty quick but he also keeps us accountable and makes us realise that it wasn't good enough.

"Sometimes it can happen like that and we understand that and sometimes you can put it down to prep, did guys take their eye off the ball a bit, but it just didn't go to plan on the day but we've got some good reasons for that now and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

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New Zealand ended a nine-year wait to avenge one of their most painful defeats as they comfortably beat Ireland in a Chicago rematch that failed to live up to the pre-game hype.

Having suffered their first ever defeat by Ireland at Soldier Field in 2016, the All Blacks came from behind in an impressive second-half showing to crush Irish hopes of another memorable day in America.

Ireland lost influential forward Tadhg Beirne to a red card after three minutes, and while Tadhg Furlong's try helped them lead 10-0, Ardie Savea's fine score brought the All Blacks to within three at the break.

Jack Crowley's penalty stretched Ireland's lead to 13-7 early in the second half, but that proved their last score as Tamaiti Williams, Wallace Sititi and Cameron Roigard all crossed in the space of 15 minutes to ensure a deserved win for the southern hemisphere giants.

It is a bitterly disappointing result for Ireland head coach Andy Farrell on his return from his British and Irish Lions sabbatical.

New Zealand, however, will be confident of securing a Grand Slam of the northern hemisphere after clinching a third successive win over Ireland in front of a sell-out 61,841 crowd at Soldier Field.

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This is the first course of a very tasty weekend of rugby.

After this one, eyes will move to Murrayfield as Scotland take on New Zealand at 15;10 GMT.

England then face Fiji at 17:40 GMT, while Australia take on Italy at the same time.

World champions South Africa face France in Paris at 20:10 GMT, while Wales take on Argentina in Cardiff on Sunday at 15:10 GMT.

Now, that's an action-packed weekend.

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The sun is shining, the birds are singing and there's rugby to be played.

After last week's defeat in Chicago to the All Blacks, Ireland are back on home turf and welcome Japan to Dublin.

The pressure is on Andy Farrell's side to bounce back against a Japan side who lost heavily, but will be ready for this one under Eddie Jones.

You can listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 3, BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Sounds. We'll also have live updates right here, and plenty of reaction at full-time.

Thanks for joining us!