Rob Kearney fears that hosts Japan are treating Saturday’s Shizuoka showdown as their World Cup final.
Kearney, 33, believes that the Brave Blossoms will put up a bigger fight to Joe Schmidt’s men than Scotland mustered in Yokohama last Sunday.
“Certainly that wasn’t as good as Scotland can play, they’ll probably be very disappointed with their performance,” said the Louthman, who will return at full-back for the encounter.
"If you had to be very honest about it, will Japan pose a better threat than Scotland? You’d have to say yes based on what they produced at the weekend.
“It’s very important that we understand that as a team”.
Veterans Kearney and Keith Earls are set for their first appearance of the tournament.
Munster no 10 Joey Carbery is also on stand-by to start after Johnny Sexton didn’t train fully yesterday, while Peter O’Mahony and Bundee Aki resumed full training after passing HIA 3.
Kearney, who has recovered from a calf issue and is ready to go, believes there were shades of Ireland last year in their 27-3 victory over the Scots in Yokohama on Sunday.
“I think so, but at the same time it’s important we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves,” he said.
“Twickenham (the 57-15 hammering by England) was only three or four weeks ago and we got a serious hiding that day.
“We’re certainly in a much better place, but there’s still more in us and we can still keep adding bits and pieces in our game.
“You have in your plan that every week you’re building and getting better.
“The team that wins the World Cup are going to be a team that you’ll see an incremental improvement in their performance every week; they’ll keep on getting better.
“That’s what we need to do, we need to produce what we did against Scotland and then a little bit more”.
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