3 hours ago
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Ireland assistant Johnny Sexton anticipates changes in personnel for Saturday's game against Japan in Dublin after the weekend loss to New Zealand.
The encounter with Eddie Jones' Brave Blossoms is the first of three upcoming games at the Aviva Stadium on consecutive Saturdays, with matches against Australia and South Africa to follow in subsequent weeks.
Sexton says squad rotation will play a part in team selection for the meeting with Japan, but some players may lose their starting berth in head coach Andy Farrell's side as a result of under-par performances in the loss to the All Blacks.
"It'll be a bit of giving guys a chance for sure, some of it will be selection, guys getting a chance because others didn't play that well at the weekend," said Sexton.
"It's always a mixture and we need to make sure we pick a team that goes out and tries to win the game. It's an important game for us, as all these games are, with regard to rankings and with the World Cup draw coming up.
"Picking a team to win first and foremost, but at the same time Andy knows that in two years' time we're going to a World Cup and we need to have 40 players ready to go."
Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey is a doubt for Saturday's game after being forced off in the second half at Soldier Field with a groin injury and his fitness is being monitored throughout the week.
"He [McCloskey] was excellent for the time that he was on the pitch. It's unfortunate for him that he picked up a little strain but I don't think it's too bad," reflected the former Ireland fly-half.
"He's doing a bit of work with the physios today [Tuesday] while the rest of us were training so hoping that he will be back involved, whether it's this week or next week I'm not sure.
"I haven't heard from Andy yet but he was very impressive on the pitch. He started the season amazingly well and it's great for us to have another centre in the mix."
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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