Japan XV Team Announced for All Blacks XV Clash

Japan Head Coach Jamie Joseph has today announced the Japan XV team to take on the All Blacks XV this Saturday, July 8 at Tokyo’s historic Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in the first of two non-capped matches in the Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2023.

Co-Captained by 78-cap veteran, Michael Leitch at number-six and 30-cap scrumhalf, Yutaka Nagare, who starts the match on the reserves bench, the side brings together a solid mix of both youth and experience with five uncapped players and six players with less than 10 caps named in the matchday 23.

Commenting on the Japan VX team selection, Japan Head Coach Jamie Joseph said:

“It’s the first game of six before the World Cup and we want to see how the players go against some very strong opposition on the weekend. These players get the first opportunity. We’ve got a squad of over 40 guys, so it’s about getting the balance right in terms of giving players an opportunity, but also trying to perform well so we can get a result.

“We’ve selected a number of players who performed particularly well in League One and want to see if they can step up and play at this level. We’ve surrounded them with some experienced players and have some experience coming off the bench in the second half.

“We haven’t played as a team since November last year so it’s a starting point for us. The area we want to make sure that we sort out is around our mentality. We’re coming up against a very strong team, with around nine All Blacks in their side. There will be a lot of motivation within the All Blacks XV to perform and play well, so our mentality, and our physicality will need to be spot on.”

Following Saturday’s match, a full-strength Brave Blossoms side will take on the All Blacks XV on Saturday, July 15 at Egao Kenko Stadium in Kumamoto. The Brave Blossoms will then play three test matches in the Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2023 Pacific Nations Series, taking on Samoa on Saturday, July 22 at Sapporo Dome and Tonga on Saturday, July 29 at Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Osaka. They then return to Tokyo to play Fiji at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium on Saturday, August 5.

Saturday’s match kicks off at 17:00 JST and will be telecast in Japan via JSports and Tokyo MX2 from 16:30 JST. The match will also be shown live and via catch-up on JSports On-demand.

TEAM LIST

No.	Name	Club	Height (cm)	Weight (kg)	DOB	Caps
1	Craig MILLAR	SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS	186	116	1990/10/29	9
2	Kosuke HORIKOSHI	TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH	175	100	1995/6/2	7
3	Shinnosuke KAKINAGA	TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH	180	115	1991/12/19	11
4	James MOORE	URAYASU D-Rocks	195	110	1993/6/11	13
5	Amato FAKATAVA	RICOH BLACKRAMS TOKYO	195	118	1994/12/7	0
6	Michael LEITCH	TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO	189	113	1988/10/7	78
7	Shota FUKUI	SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS	186	101	1999/9/28	0
8	Faulua MAKISI	Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY	187	112	1997/1/20	5
9	Naoto SAITO	TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH	165	73	1997/8/26	11
10	Rikiya MATSUDA	SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS	181	92	1994/5/3	29
11	Semisi MASIREWA	HANAZONO KINTETSU LINERS	181	93	1992/6/9	2
12	Shogo NAKANO	TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH	186	98	1997/6/11	6
13	Dylan RILEY	SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS	187	102	1997/5/2	10
14	Jone NAIKABULA	TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO	177	95	1994/4/12	0
15	Kotaro MATSUSHIMA	TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH	178	88	1993/2/26	47
16	Shota HORIE	SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS	180	104	1986/1/21	68
17	Sione HALASILI	YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES	180	120	1999/10/15	0
18	Jiwon GU	KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS	183	117	1994/7/20	21
19	Jack CORNELSEN	SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS	195	110	1994/10/13	12
20	Kazuki HIMENO	TOYOTA VERBLITZ	187	108	1994/7/27	25
21	Yutaka NAGARE	TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH	166	75	1992/9/4	30
22	Jumpei OGURA	YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES	172	82	1992/7/11	4
23	Tomoki OSADA	SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS	179	90	1999/11/25	0

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