Ireland 41-10 Japan result – Quilter Nation Series latest as Tom­my O'Brien scores late to seal six-try victory for Andy Farrell's side

Winger Tommy O’Brien completed a stellar individual display by scoring his side’s sixth and final try in their 41-10 victory against Japan.

After a disappointing defeat against New Zealand last weekend, head coach Andy Farrell made a host of changes against a Japan side heavily beaten by South Africa a week earlier.

The home side got off to a good start with Jack Crowley and Nick Timoney scoring a try each and 17 unanswered points.

However, Kenji Sato pulled a try back before the break and when Jacob Stockdale was shown yellow for a high tackle on the half-time whistle momentum looked to be shifting.

Ireland produced a better second half display as Andrew Porter restored the hosts a 12-point advantage before the home replacements ran riot against a tiring defence.

Brothers Gus and Paddy McCarthy added further tries to secure the win before O’Brien ran over a sixth try in the closing minutes

Farrell will be left reflecting on a poor first half showing before the visit of Australia to the Aviva Stadium next weekend.

TNT Sports pundit Tommy Bowe has highlighted Ireland head coach Andy Farrell’s ‘biggest problem’ ahead of matches against Australia and South Africa.

He said: "They’ve got two huge matches ahead against Australia next weekend, and then the big one against South Africa.

"It’s not the most of perfect performance for Ireland today. The second half was good, but the first half it was just the combinations and accuracy.

"It was the same in Chicago. The ideas are right, what they are trying to do, it’s just the execution. That’s where Andy Farrell has got his biggest problem.

"Against the top teams you have to be at your very best."

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Ireland right winger Tom­my O'Brien hopes that his side will improve as they face Austria and South Africa in the forthcoming weeks.

He told TNT Sports: "There's a few new guys coming into the team, so it's always going to be the way, but we're building.

"We want to play a nice and expensive brand of rugby. There are going to be errors with that, hopefully as the games go on we will improve.

"There was the disappointment of last week (defeat to New Zealand), but we knew that we had three great games at home in front of our fans.

"It's one down and two big games to come."

The Ireland head coach will have some analysing to do from that performance. The first half especially was littered with errors which kept Japan in the match.

The quality from the bench was enough for Ireland to see off a young Japanese side.

That’s full-time as Ireland run out comfortable winners. It was littered with errors but they powered over late tries to win 41-10

S Prendergast picks the ball off his opponent and then sends though a delicate pass for O’Brien who flies in to score. S Prendergast adds a conversion

Ireland put phase after phase of pressure on their opponents following a line-out P McCarthy dives over with a pick-and-go try.

This time S Prendergast finds the conversion.

It looks like a shoulder injury for Osbourne which will worry Ireland supporters. He is replaced by O’Brien. P Mc­Carthy is on for Porter

Japan changes - Hi­rose on for Lawrence; Hi­rao on for Sato

On his seventh Ireland appearance G McCarthy scores. An Ireland line-out results in a maul which is unstoppable as it drives over.

The Prendergast conversion is wide.

The game bursts into life after a quiet 15 minutes. Yazaki finds a hole in the Irish defence after taking a high ball and then driving forward. However, Irish replacement C Prendergast has enough pace to deny his opponent.

A lovely forward run from O’Brien has the Japanese defence beaten. However, his final ball to Stockdale is too far ahead of his team-mate and the chance is wasted.

The game is lacking the spark it had during the first half. Casey comes off for Blade.

Ireland - Beal­ham on for Clark­son; Mc­Carthy on for Kelle­her.

Japan - Ben Gunter on for Mak­isi; Tame­fusa on for Takeuchi; Ko­mu­ra on for Lee; Fu­ji­wara on for Saito

The Pren­der­gast pair have added an injection of energy for the hosts. This time S Pren­der­gast sends a searching ball across the pitch for O’Brien.

However, the pass dips at last moment and it’s too low for the Ireland winger to collect.

Ireland - Co­nan on for Ti­m­o­ney; S Pren­der­gast on for Crow­ley; C Pren­der­gast on for James.

Japan - Iwai­hara on for Kobayashi; Cor­nelsen on for Uluiv­i­ti

O’Brien’s kick through is kicked through and collected by Japan. However, Stockdale chases down and as Japan kick away it is deflected to C Prendergast.

However, C Prendergast is judged to be in an off-side position and TMO cancels the try.

Japanese stalwart Michael Leitch comes on to replace Ben Gunter. Ireland are restored to their full XV following the sin-bin of Stockdale ending.

Play opened up inside the last 10 metres for Doris. However, he failed to release O’Brien before a tackle came in. The hosts recycle the ball and Porter powers over from close range. This time the conversion is missed.

Some lovely offloads as Ireland came surging forward through Farrell, Osbourne and O’Brien. However, handling errors cost them before Crowley came under a crunching tackle.