Jones names squad for A5N

TOKYO (March 12) – Japan Rugby Top League Rookies of the Year Keita Inagaki and Kyosuke Horie were among the seven uncapped players named Wednesday in a 40-man squad for the Asian 5 Nations.

In addition to Inagaki and Horie, head coach Eddie Jones also called up Yasuki Hayashi, Kotaro Matsushima, Naohiro Kotaki, Daishi Murata and Hayden Hopgood.
 
Horie, Hayashi and Matsushima were all part of the Japan squad that toured Europe in November 2013, while the other four have been called up to the senior squad for the first time.
 
Japan’s five overseas based players – Shota Horie, Fumiaki Tanaka, Male Sa’u, Harumichi Tatekawa and Takahashi Kikutani — were all named in the squad, as were veteran forwards Hitoshi Ono, Luke Thompson and Kensuke Hatakeyama, who have 170 caps between them.
 
A Japan XV will take on the Asia Pacific Dragons in Osaka on April 26 as a warm-up for the A5N.
 
Jones and his team take on the Philippines in Manila on May 3, Sri Lanka in Nagoya on May 10, South Korea in Incheon on May 17 and Hong Kong on May 25 in the last game to be played at Tokyo’s National Stadium before it is demolished and replaced by a new arena, which will make its debut at Rugby World Cup 2019.
 
The winners of the A5N will automatically qualify for Rugby World Cup 2015 and will be in Pool B alongside South Africa, Samoa, Scotland and Americas 2.
 
June sees Japan travel to Canada and the United States for IRB Pacific Nations Cup games before it closes out its summer campaign with a game against Italy in Tokyo on June 21.