Carty replaces Sexton at 10 for Ireland vs Japan

SHIZUOKA , Japan (AP) — Ireland flyhalf Jonathan Sexton was available to play against Japan in the Rugby World Cup. Coach Joe Schmidt decided not to risk it.

The 2018 world player of the year received a bang to his quad against Scotland last Sunday and ceded goalkicking to scrumhalf Conor Murray. He was replaced with victory secured, didn’t train fully this week, and missed out on selection on Thursday for the Japan game on Saturday.

Ireland gave a second start at 10 to Jack Carty in his first international season, and backed him with Joey Carbery, who was recovered from an ankle ligament injury more than two months ago against Italy.

“Johnny’s never happy about being left out, he’s always looking to play, but he had a good hit-out against Scotland, played through 55 minutes and got a bit of mileage under his belt there,” Schmidt said.

“We thought about his security off the bench but we also have a lot of time for Jack and wanted to get him involved as well. It just means we take the pressure off Johnny this week.”

Carty helped Ireland finish off Scotland 27-3 in Yokohama, and was impressive.

“Jack’s very calm, he doesn’t get ruffled easily, he doesn’t get distracted by an error he might make, or people trying to put pressure on him,” Schmidt said. “So he stays in the zone very well.”

Carty was one of four changes to the starting lineup, all of them in the backline.

Fullback Rob Kearney and wing Keith Earls shook off calf and thigh issues which prevented their availability against Scotland, and Chris Farrell was at inside center for Bundee Aki, who completed head injury assessments and was training fully, but not worth risking.

Flanker Peter O’Mahony failed a head injury assessment during the Scotland match but passed the concussion protocols afterwards and was picked in an unchanged forward pack. O’Mahony was to have sat out the match until Jack Conan hurt his foot in training when a teammate stood on it and he couldn’t train fully.

“There’s no elevated risk, we don’t believe, in selecting Pete,” Schmidt said. “And we’ve got a super medical staff.”