Hatakeyama to lead Japan in Leitch’s absence

TOKYO (Nov. 21) – Japan take on Georgia on Sunday with a side that shows four changes and two positional switches from the team that started last week’s 18-13 win over Romania.

Tighthead prop Kensuke Hatakeyama will lead the side after Michael Leitch was ruled unfit to play after picking up a shoulder injury last week.

 
Leitch’s place at openside flanker will be taken by Hayden Hopgood with Luke Thompson returning in the engine room.

 
“The obvious change from last week is Leitch is out injured,” head coach Eddie Jones said Friday. “The other change (in the pack) sees Luke Thompson back in the second row ahead of (Shinya) Makabe who moves to the bench. We rested Luke for the Romania game so we are expecting a big performance from him.”

 
Hopgood lines up with Hendrik Tui and Amanaki Lelei Mafi in the back row, with Thompson and Shoji Ito at lock and Hatakeyama, Masataka Mikami and Takeshi Kizu in the front row.

 
Yu Tamura has recovered from the knock he picked up during the non-test against the Maori All Blacks on Nov. 1 and is back in the starting XV at flyhalf with Harumichi Tatekawa also earning a recall to the run-on team.

 
“In the backs Tamura is back to full fitness so he takes over the 10 spot from Kosei (Ono), who played exceptionally well last week,” said Jones.

 
“Haru has now come back into form so we’ve elevated him to a starting position at 12 with Male (Sa’u) out to 13 and (Kotaro) Matsushima to the right wing, which unfortunately means (Akihito) Yamada misses out on this game.”

 
Karne Hesketh keeps his place on the left wing, Ayumu Goromaru will win his 43rd cap at fullback, while Atsushi Hiwasa will be winning his 38th at scrumhalf as Japan look to extend their test-match winning streak to 12 and finish off the calendar year unbeaten.

 
Joining Makabe on the bench are front row replacements Keita Inagaki, Hiroki Yuhara and Shinnosuke Kakinaga.

 
The growing list of injuries means Makabe and Hitoshi Ono will cover the second and back row, while the replacement backs are Yuki Yatomi, Kosei Ono and Toshiaki Hirose.

 

11/23/2014  Japan vs Georgia (Japan National Team Squad Announcement)

No.	Name	Club Team	Graduate	(cm)	(kg)	D.O.B	Caps
1	Masataka MIKAMI	TOSHIBA Brave Lupus	Tokai Univ.	178	115	1988/6/4	22
2	Takeshi KIZU	KOBE STEEL Kobelco Steelers	Tokai Univ.	183	114	1988/7/15	29
3	* Kensuke HATAKEYAMA	SUNTORY Sungoliath	Waseda Univ.	178	115	1985/8/2	59
4	Luke THOMPSON	KINTETSU Liners	Lincoln Univ.(NZ)	196	108	1981/4/16	48
5	Shoji ITO	KOBE STEEL Kobelco Steelers	Kyoto Sangyo Univ.	191	100	1980/12/2	27
6	Hendrik TUI	SUNTORY Sungoliath	Teikyo Univ.	189	107	1987/12/13	26
7	Hayden HOPGOOD	Kamaishi Seawaves	Shirley Boys HS(NZ)	190	105	1980/7/30	2
8	Amanaki LELEI MAFI	NTT COMMUNICATIONS Shining Arcs	Hanazono Univ.	189	112	1990/1/11	1
9	Atsushi HIWASA	SUNTORY Sungoliath	Hosei Univ.	166	72	1987/5/22	37
10	Yu TAMURA	NEC Green Rockets	Meiji Univ.	181	92	1989/1/9	25
11	Karne HESKETH	Munakata SANIX Blues	Univ. of Otago (NZ)	178	98	1985/8/1	1
12	Harumichi TATEKAWA	KUBOTA Spears	Tenri Univ.	181	94	1989/12/2	27
13	Male SAU	YAMAHA Jubilo	Tangaroa College (NZ)	183	97	1987/10/13	19
14	Kotaro MATSUSHIMA	SUNTORY Sungoliath	Toin Gakuen HS	175	88	1993/2/26	5
15	Ayumu GOROMARU	YAMAHA Jubilo	Waseda Univ.	185	99	1986/3/1	42
16	Keita INAGAKI	PANASONIC Wild Knights	Kanto Gakuin Univ.	183	115	1990/6/2	1
17	Hiroki YUHARA	TOSHIBA Brave Lupus	Ryutsu Keizai Univ.	173	102	1984/1/21	17
18	Shinnosuke KAKINAGA	SUNTORY Sungoliath	Waseda Univ.	180	114	1991/12/19	–
19	Hitoshi ONO	TOSHIBA Brave Lupus	Nihon Univ.	192	106	1978/5/6	86
20	Shinya MAKABE	SUNTORY Sungoliath	Chuo Univ.	192	118	1987/3/26	28
21	Yuki YATOMI	YAMAHA Jubilo	Waseda Univ.	176	82	1985/2/16	13
22	Kosei ONO	SUNTORY Sungoliath	Christchurch Boys HS (NZ)	171	83	1987/4/17	23
23	Toshiaki HIROSE	TOSHIBA Brave Lupus	Keio Univ.	173	82	1981/10/17	22

*CAPTAIN