# #63: Ireland vs Japan - Nations Championship Round 2 Review Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-leinster-listen-7601014/63-ireland-vs-japan-nations-championship-round-2-review Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-leinster-listen-7601014/63-ireland-vs-japan-nations-championship-round-2-review.md Podcast: [The Leinster Listen](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-leinster-listen-7601014) Published: 2026-07-13T00:28:43+00:00 Episode link: https://rss.com/podcasts/the-leinster-listen/2982933 Audio file: https://content.rss.com/episodes/356999/2982933/the-leinster-listen/2026_07_13_00_25_40_f72cce91-f2ec-4d51-b03d-d4e83f87b7ff.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-leinster-listen-7601014/episodes/63-ireland-vs-japan-nations-championship-round-2-review Duration seconds: 1908 ## Resource Episode 63, and Ireland stay perfect in the Nations Championship β€” Andy Farrell's much-changed side made it two bonus-point wins from two with a 36-20 victory over Eddie Jones's Japan in Newcastle. Debutant Sean Jansen was player of the match with a try on his first cap, Robbie Henshaw crossed on his return, and Tom Stewart's late score sealed the bonus point on a day the set piece creaked but the squad depth delivered. Round 2 elsewhere brought Will Jordan's record-breaking hat-trick as New Zealand hammered Italy 47-17, France's Aaron Grandidier Nkanang scored twice on debut in a 42-26 comeback win over Australia, England ended their losing run with an 11-try 73-8 rout of Fiji, South Africa held off Scotland 42-28 at Loftus, and Argentina beat Wales 35-21 in San Juan. Here is what I'm hitting on this week's episode: 🌍 Nations Championship Round 2 results; All six fixtures from Saturday β€” NZ 47-17 Italy, France 42-26 Australia, our game in Newcastle, England 73-8 Fiji, South Africa 42-28 Scotland, and Argentina 35-21 Wales β€” plus a fun fact: both hemispheres dead level on 33 competition points and perfectly balanced on aggregate points difference (+22 north, -22 south) after two rounds. πŸ“’ Important Podcast Updates; Dynamic Ads are gone from the podcast for good β€” they will never be re-added. πŸ”₯ Overall opinion of the game; Why Farrell called it relief more than pleasure β€” Japan competitive for 60 minutes, the lineout a worry, but maximum points and four debutants celebrated. πŸ“‹ Analysis of the game events; Taira Main's early try, Timoney and O'Toole responding, Henshaw before the break, Jansen's debut score, Era keeping Japan in it, Byrne's penalty, and Stewart's last-minute bonus point. πŸ—ΊοΈ Nations Championship positioning after this weekend; Ireland on 10 points from tw… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-leinster-listen-7601014/episodes/63-ireland-vs-japan-nations-championship-round-2-review/transcription-requests` β€” Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-leinster-listen-7601014/63-ireland-vs-japan-nations-championship-round-2-review.md` β€” Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.