Treadwell and Tracy handed first Irish starts by Schmidt

Leinster hooker James Tracy and Ulster lock Kieran Treadwell have been handed their first Test starts for Ireland in tomorrow’s rematch with Japan in Tokyo.

Tracy, who won his third cap as a replacement during last weekend’s 50-22 victory over Japan in Shizuoka, and Treadwell, who made his debut off the bench last time out, have been given the chance to lay down a marker ahead of the 2019 World Cup.

Ulster-bound scrum-half John Cooney, who has had stints at Leinster and Connacht, is also poised to win his first cap off the bench.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt brought eight uncapped players on tour and seven of them – Andrew Porter, Dave Heffernan, James Ryan, Treadwell, Rory Scannell, Rory O’loughlin and Jacob Stockdale – have seen game time. Now, Cooney is set to become the eighth and final member of the squad to make his Test debut. Dan Leavy, Luke Mcgrath and Simon Zebo were the only players not considered for selection.

“Dan Leavy sustained a cut and was very bruised from last weekend,” said Schmidt, who has made six changes to his starting line-up for the clash at Ajinomoto Stadium.

“He is still recovering from last weekend. He will probably be OK for the weekend but we had some fresh guys who could come in and do the job.

“Mcgrath played 80 minutes last weekend also and caught an elbow in the eye. He should be fine as well but it’s precautionary. We felt the need to look after him this week.

“The other one is Simon Zebo. He trained fully on Tuesday but today there was still fluid on his knee and he wasn’t as comfortable as we would have liked at training, so we have decided to give him a rest.” Ireland team to play Japan in second Test: Andrew Conway; Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Luke Marshall, Jacob Stockdale; Paddy Jackson, Kieran Marmion; Cian Healy, James Tracy, John Ryan; Kieran Treadwell, Devin Toner; Rhys Ruddock (c), Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan. Replacements: Niall Scannell, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, James Ryan, Sean Reidy, John Cooney, Rory Scannell, Tiernan O’halloran.