Japan XV Team Announced for First Māori All Blacks Clash
Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones has today announced the Japan XV team to take on the Māori All Blacks this Saturday, June 29 at Tokyo’s historic Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in the first of two non-capped matches in the Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2024.
The team is Co-Captained by starting hooker, Mamoru Harada, who earned his first cap last weekend against England, and 20-cap replacement scrumhalf, Naoto Saito, who starts the match on the reserves bench. Jones has once again opted for youth as he works to blood the next generation of Japanese National Team players.
Within his matchday-23, eight players are yet to be capped, while 12 of those already capped have featured in less than 10 test matches each, including five who played their maiden test in last weekend’s loss to England.
Commenting on the Japan XV team selection, Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“This Japan XV is a generational change team. If you look at the members, there are only three players from the previous World Cup squad, so it’s a very young team. Some of them played against England and learned a lot from that game and we’re now looking forward to play against a hungry Māori All Blacks side that plays with a lot of pride and passion. We’re looking to match them in those areas and putting on a great game of rugby at Chichibunomiya.
“This team is not the Japan test team. Its purpose is to give opportunities to younger players to come through and we want to see what level they’re at against a Māori All Blacks side that is one of the strongest non-test teams in the world. Where going to get a good benchmark of where the younger players are at, and for those who played against England, it’s an opportunity to get some more game time, particularly for those who haven’t played a lot of League One games.
“We’re experimenting at the moment, trying to find out where we can build the team towards. Post the World Cup we needed to change the team and we’re looking to find the best combinations and this game is an opportunity to do that again.”
The first Japan XV v Māori All Blacks match kicks off at 19:00 JST and will be telecast in Japan on J Sports 1 and shown live and via catch-up on J Sports On-demand.
Following Saturday’s match in Tokyo, the two sides will meet again in the second non-capped match of the Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2024 at Toyota Stadium in Aichi on July 6.
Japan XV Team:
| No | Name | Club Team | Graduate | Heightcm | Weightkg | DOB |
| 1 | Shogo MIURA | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Tokai Univ. | 180 | 115 | 1995/6/8 |
| 2 | Mamoru HARADA (CC) | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Keio Univ. | 175 | 101 | 1999/4/15 |
| 3 | Keijiro TAMEFUSA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 180 | 108 | 2001/9/3 |
| 4 | Eishin KUWANO | SHIZUOKA BlueRevs | Waseda Univ. | 193 | 112 | 1994/10/11 |
| 5 | Naohiro KOTAKI | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Teikyo Univ. | 194 | 110 | 1992/6/13 |
| 6 | Kanji SHIMOKAWA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 188 | 105 | 1999/1/17 |
| 7 | Kai YAMAMOTO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Keio Univ. | 177 | 100 | 2000/3/17 |
| 8 | Amanaki SAUMAKI | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Tupou College | 189 | 107 | 1997/3/8 |
| 9 | Taiki KOYAMA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Daito Bunka Univ. | 171 | 74 | 1994/10/31 |
| 10 | Takuya YAMASAWA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Tsukuba Univ. | 176 | 84 | 1994/9/21 |
| 11 | Koga NEZUKA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Hosei Univ. | 173 | 82 | 1998/9/15 |
| 12 | Samisoni TUA | URAYASU D-Rocks | Setsunan Univ. | 182 | 108 | 1995/5/24 |
| 13 | Tomoki OSADA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 179 | 90 | 1999/11/25 |
| 14 | Viliame TUIDRAKI | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Setsunan Univ. | 184 | 97 | 1997/1/9 |
| 15 | Yoshitaka YAZAKI | Waseda Univ. | Toin Gakuen HS. | 180 | 85 | 2004/5/12 |
| 16 | Kenji SATO | Waseda Univ. | Toin Gakuen HS. | 177 | 108 | 2003/1/4 |
| 17 | Takato OKABE | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | 180 | 105 | 1995/2/19 |
| 18 | Tsubasa MORIYAMA | Teikyo Univ. | Kyoto Seisho HS. | 180 | 109 | 2004/4/7 |
| 19 | Sanaila WAQA | HANAZONO KINTETSU LINERS | Hastings Boys’ High School | 202 | 120 | 1995/7/17 |
| 20 | Takuma MOTOHASHI | Teikyo Univ. | Kyoto Seisho HS. | 192 | 118 | 2002/4/30 |
| 21 | Naoto SAITO (CC) | ― | Waseda Univ. | 165 | 73 | 1997/8/26 |
| 22 | Mikiya TAKAMOTO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Teikyo Univ. | 171 | 80 | 2001/3/15 |
| 23 | Nicholas MCCURRAN | ― | Teikyo Univ. | 188 | 93 | 1996/6/13 |
(CC) denotes Co-Captain