Brave Blossoms Side Named Ahead of Must-Win Samoa Match
Following their 34-12 loss to England ten days ago in Nice, Japan now set their sights on their upcoming match against Samoa, this Thursday in Toulouse. Kicking off at 21:00 local French time, 04:00 Japan time on Friday morning, the do-or-die fixture promises to be a gripping contest with both teams needing a win to stay in contention for a Pool D Quarter Final spot.
Japan Head Coach, Jamie Joseph has named a side near identical to the team that went down to England in a match where the Brave Blossoms created some promising first half momentum yet failed to take their chances and ended up making too many costly mistakes. While England were the better team on the day, the final score was flattering to the victors and didn’t necessarily capture the closeness between the two teams for much of the match.
This week sees the same starting pack and reserve forwards, with loosehead prop, Keita Inagaki packing down opposite Jiwon Gu at tighthead, while at hooker, Shota Horie starts for the second week running, with the experienced Atsushi Sakate on the bench. Craig Millar and Asaeli Valu have been named as the reserve props.
The second-row sees the ever-reliable Jack Cornelsen packing down alongside the formidable Amato Fakatava. A powerful and experienced backrow combination has Michael Leitch at blindside, Pieter ‘Lappies’ Labuschagne at openside and Captain Kazuki Himeno anchoring the scrum at number-eight.
Second-rower, Warner Dearns and flanker, Kanji Shimokawa once again start the match from the bench as the two remaining forward reserves.
The starting backline sees just two changes with Dylan Riley replacing Tomoki Osada at outside-centre, with Osada moving back to the bench. The versatile Lomano Lemeki moves from the bench into fullback as cover for Semisi Masiwera who picked up an injury against England that has ruled him out of the remainder of the tournament.
In the halves, Yutake Nagare and playmaker, Rikiya Matsuda are named at numbers nine and ten respectively. Matsuda, who has a 100% record off the kicking tee, having slotted 10 from 10 in the opening two matches, will be looking for another strong performance with the boot.
In the midfield, Ryoto Nakamura retains his starting role at inside-centre, alongside the hard-running Riley. The outside backs once again see Jone Naikabula and Kotaro Matsushima on the left and right wings respectively, with Lemeki in at fullback. Naoto Saito retains his position at reserve halfback and is joined on the bench by playmaker, Seugnsin Lee who will be looking to make his Rugby World Cup debut after having missed selection for the first two matches.
Commenting on the Brave Blossoms’ team selection, Japan Head Coach Jamie Joseph said:
“We’re not comparing the Samoa team that we played four years ago to the team that we’re seeing now and that we played in Sapporo. They showed incredible resilience against a really strong Argentina team, and we will have to be at our very best to beat them. We’ve had a really good week and we’ve got a plan in place to counter what we experienced in the second half last week, when it gets physically and mentally tough and the test match is on the line.
“We’ll be playing a very strong team in Samoa, but we’ve got confidence in the way we play rugby. We’ve had a bit more time to strategize around how we want to do that and had some time to recover from the England match which the guys put emotionally a lot of effort into. We felt we created pressure on England, but we just weren’t good enough to put them away. We want to make sure we get ourselves into that position against Samoa but be good enough to carry it on and get the result.”
With a 21:00 local kick-off in France on Thursday night, it will be 04:00am start for fans in Japan on Friday morning. The match will be broadcast live, nationwide on Nippon TV, Hulu, TVer and J Sports One. It will also be available for streaming and catch-up through J Sports On Demand.
Following their match against Samoa, the Brave Blossoms will move to Nantes to take on Argentina in their final Pool D match on Sunday, 8 October at Stade de la Beaujoire.
TEAM LIST
| No. | Name | Team | Height | Weight | Date of Birth | Caps |
| 1 | Keita INAGAKI | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | 186 | 116 | 1990/6/2 | 51 |
| 2 | Shota HORIE | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | 180 | 104 | 1986/1/21 | 74 |
| 3 | Jiwon GU | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | 183 | 117 | 1994/7/20 | 27 |
| 4 | Jack CORNELSEN | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | 195 | 110 | 1994/10/13 | 18 |
| 5 | Amato FAKATAVA | RICOH BLACKRAMS TOKYO | 195 | 118 | 1994/12/7 | 5 |
| 6 | Michael LEITCH | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | 189 | 113 | 1988/10/7 | 82 |
| 7 | Pieter LABUSCHAGNE | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | 189 | 106 | 1989/1/11 | 17 |
| 8 | Kazuki HIMENO | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | 187 | 108 | 1994/7/27 | 30 |
| 9 | Yutaka NAGARE | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | 166 | 75 | 1992/9/4 | 36 |
| 10 | Rikiya MATSUDA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | 181 | 92 | 1994/5/3 | 35 |
| 11 | Jone NAIKABULA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | 177 | 95 | 1994/4/12 | 6 |
| 12 | Ryoto NAKAMURA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | 182 | 92 | 1991/6/3 | 37 |
| 13 | Dylan RILEY | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | 187 | 102 | 1997/5/2 | 16 |
| 14 | Kotaro MATSUSHIMA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | 178 | 88 | 1993/2/26 | 53 |
| 15 | Lomano Lava LEMEKI | NEC GREEN ROCKETS TOKATSU | 178 | 96 | 1989/1/20 | 18 |
| 16 | Atsushi SAKATE | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | 180 | 104 | 1993/6/21 | 39 |
| 17 | Craig MILLAR | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | 186 | 116 | 1990/10/29 | 15 |
| 18 | Asaeli Ai VALU | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | 187 | 115 | 1989/5/7 | 28 |
| 19 | Warner DEARNS | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | 201 | 117 | 2002/4/11 | 9 |
| 20 | Kanji SHIMOKAWA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | 188 | 105 | 1999/1/17 | 4 |
| 21 | Naoto SAITO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | 165 | 73 | 1997/8/26 | 17 |
| 22 | Seungsin LEE | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | 176 | 85 | 2001/1/13 | 10 |
| 23 | Tomoki OSADA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | 179 | 90 | 1999/11/25 | 6 |
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