Jones Picks Young Brave Blossoms Side to Face England
Brave Blossoms Head Coach, Eddie Jones has today named his side for Japan’s first test of the year against England in the Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2024, this Saturday, 22 June at Tokyo’s National Stadium. Kicking off at 14:50, the match will be Jones’ first in charge of the Brave Blossoms since returning to coach the team in January this year.
As promised when he named his first Brave Blossoms training squad last month, he has opted overwhelmingly for youth by selecting eight uncapped players in his matchday-23, including starting fullback Yoshitaka Yazaki who plays his rugby with Waseda University. In addition, eight of the already capped players have played in less than 10 test matches each, bringing the average number of test caps across the side to just 11.
Jones has however opted for experience and familiarity by naming Michael Leitch as his Captain. The 84-test veteran and Japan’s most capped current player also led the team under Jones during the 2015 World Cup in England where they famously defeated South Africa. Saturday’s match will likely be of similar intensity with England Coach, Steve Borthwick naming a strong side for the one-off test match.
Commenting on the Brave Blossoms’ team selection, Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“We’ve had a really good preparation for the game, I’ve been really impressed by the commitment and effort shown by the players and we’re really looking forward to the game against England. We’re starting a new period for Japan in that we need to change Japanese rugby, so we’ve gone for some young players, who are the best players to pick at this stage. England are an experienced side, three years into their cycle with Steve Borthwick, while we’re just 10 days into our cycle. So, there is a gap there, but we’ve got no excuses, we’ve prepared really well and we’re going to give it a red hot go on Saturday.”
The match will be broadcast live, nationwide on Nippon TV from 14:30 and J Sports One from 14:00. It will also be available for streaming via Hulu from 14:30 and for catch-up through J Sports On-Demand from 14:00.
| No. | Name | Club Team | Graduate | cm | kg | DOB | Cap |
| 1 | Takayoshi MOHARA | SHIZUOKA BlueRevs | Chuo Univ. | 187 | 116 | 2000/3/17 | – |
| 2 | Mamoru HARADA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Keio Univ. | 175 | 101 | 1999/4/15 | – |
| 3 | Shuhei TAKEUCHI | URAYASU D-Rocks | Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ. | 183 | 115 | 1997/12/9 | 3 |
| 4 | Sanaila WAQA | HANAZONO KINTETSU LINERS | Hastings Boys’ High School | 202 | 120 | 1995/7/17 | 2 |
| 5 | Warner DEARNS | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Ryutsu Keizai Univ. KASHIWA HS. | 201 | 117 | 2002/4/11 | 11 |
| 6 | Michael LEITCH | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tokai Univ. | 189 | 113 | 1988/10/7 | 84 |
| 7 | Tiennan COSTLEY | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | International Pacific Univ. | 192 | 102 | 2000/6/14 | – |
| 8 | Faulua MAKISI | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 187 | 112 | 1997/1/20 | 5 |
| 9 | Naoto SAITO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 165 | 73 | 1997/8/26 | 19 |
| 10 | Seungsin LEE | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Osaka Korean HS. | 176 | 86 | 2001/1/13 | 11 |
| 11 | Koga NEZUKA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Hosei Univ. | 173 | 82 | 1998/9/15 | 1 |
| 12 | Tomoki OSADA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 179 | 90 | 1999/11/25 | 7 |
| 13 | Dylan RILEY | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Bond Univ. | 187 | 102 | 1997/5/2 | 18 |
| 14 | Jone NAIKABULA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Setsunan Univ. | 177 | 95 | 1994/4/12 | 8 |
| 15 | Yoshitaka YAZAKI | Waseda Univ. | Toin Gakuen HS. | 180 | 85 | 2004/5/12 | – |
| 16 | Atsushi SAKATE | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Teikyo Univ. | 180 | 104 | 1993/6/21 | 41 |
| 17 | Shogo MIURA | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Tokai Univ. | 180 | 115 | 1995/6/8 | 9 |
| 18 | Keijiro TAMEFUSA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 180 | 108 | 2001/9/3 | – |
| 19 | Amanaki SAUMAKI | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Tupou College | 189 | 107 | 1997/3/8 | 3 |
| 20 | Kai YAMAMOTO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Keio Univ. | 177 | 100 | 2000/3/17 | – |
| 21 | Shinobu FUJIWARA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 171 | 76 | 1999/2/8 | – |
| 22 | Rikiya MATSUDA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Teikyo Univ. | 181 | 92 | 1994/5/3 | 37 |
| 23 | Samisoni TUA | URAYASU D-Rocks | Setsunan Univ. | 182 | 108 | 1995/5/24 | – |