In Andy Farrell’s view beforehand, this would be a proper Test match, and in his view afterwards, it had been just that. Yet it was also noticeably more relaxed in the immediate aftermath than most Test venues.
Media passes ensured access to pretty much everywhere, and the sprinkling of Irish and Japanese journalists formed an impromptu mixed zone in a large, rectangular room adjacent to the pitch entrance between the two dressingrooms at the end of each corridor.
After Farrell’s post-match briefing was quickly completed, the first to emerge was Sam Illo, who had actually come from the corridor leading to the Japanese dressingroom, for reasons that would soon become apparent.
“I can’t really describe it in words,” said Illo of the greatest day in his career to date. “I’d say a dream come true. It’s everything I’ve always wanted to do – to play for Ireland. I’ve probably not made it publicly known, but I kept it to myself. I’m just happy with today, especially with the win as well.”
RM Block
Pre-match, Japan coach Eddie Jones had forecast that his pack would “dominate” the Irish scrum, especially in the second half, when Illo and fellow debutant, 20-year-old Billy Bohan, were introduced.
Illo had been a little miffed.
“I actually just spoke to [Jones] there about it,” said Illo, with a broad smile. “I asked him about it. I was like, ‘Where did that comment come from? Was it a case of you just felt we were inexperienced?’ He just said he backs his lads.”
And then talk about timing. At that precise point, the agent provocateur also came walking down the same corridor to walk past Illo and the Irish media huddle.
With that innately mischievous grin, Jones said: “I was telling him how much I love him!” And walked around us into the nearby press conference room.
“At the time, I took it personally, Eddie,” said Illo, in earshot of Jones. “That’s something you take personally, but afterwards it’s just rugby at the end of the day. It’s grand.”
Illo was barely on the pitch when the next scrum was formed.
“There was a scrum nearly every five minutes,” he said. “The ground wasn’t holding up as well, so it wasn’t making it easy. The lads did well, not just me, and kept it up.”
Illo was driven back as the Irish scrum splintered before Andrea Piardi ordered a reset, to Illo’s relief. “They actually kind of got me in the first one, so I was like, ‘Ah, here.’ I was like: ‘I need to get reset and then just get down.’
“I just realised they were pulling me right early, so I was like, ‘I need to load back up’, because they were getting set early. I went straight on then. I just had to realise I had to put the weight back on to allow myself to get into strong shape.”
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But true to Eddie Jones’ prematch hyperbole about Sojiro Otuska, his 21-year-old loosehead won a penalty against Illo not long after he arrived five minutes later.
Farrell had responded by saying he expected Ireland to dominate in all areas, especially in the second half, but one senses Jones upping the ante for his young props was music to Farrell’s ears.
That much was proved when Bohan revealed afterwards: “We had a team meeting, or a forwards meeting yesterday, and we walked in and that was on the screen, the comment he made.
“It was a good challenge. We put the challenge down. Obviously, they put a bit of pressure on, but I think we did pretty well, so I’m proud of all the lads.”
Farrell reminded us all in the immediate aftermath of this game that, for Illo and Bohan, the learning from being put under such intense scrum pressure at Test level are “absolutely priceless”.
He also said: “Even Sam and Billy in the carry sometimes – you feel the difference between the URC and international rugby. Same for Bryn [Ward]. They’ll use that and kick on.”
It will be fascinating to see how the four debutants progress from him. For the two Connacht props, the chances of Illo being a bolter for the World Cup are perhaps slightly greater. This is due to him being a tighthead as much as his age, whereas the door opened for Bohan in part due to the slew of looseheads being sidelined.
As Connacht will likely discover next season, producing internationals can be a double-edged sword, for it will likely restrict their provincial game time if the new caps continue to be part of Ireland’s plans.
But both props have something else going for them, over Ward and his provincial team-mates anyway, in that Connacht edging out Ulster for eighth place in the URC means Bohan, Illo, Hansen et al will be exposed to some stellar European games next season.
And, most importantly, they have a taste of all this now.
