Jones Names Brave Blossoms Side to Face England
Brave Blossoms Head Coach, Eddie Jones has named his side to take on England this Sunday, November 24 in their Lipovitan D Tour 2024 match, Japan’s final fixture of the year. Kicking off at 16:10 local time, 01:10 Monday morning Japan time, the match will be played at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham, the home of England Rugby. It will be the second meeting between the two sides this year, with Japan having hosted England in Tokyo back in June.
Japan will be looking to finish their year strongly after a mixed bag of results across their 2024 season. With four wins and six losses across 10 test matches, along with a win and a loss in their two non-caped matches against the Māori All Blacks, this young Japan side will want to put in a solid performance to round off a tough year.
Sunday’s match will be the 12th test between the two sides, with Japan yet to taste victory against the Red Roses since their first meeting in Osaka, back in 1971. The closest match was in 1979 when they came within two points in Osaka, with a final score of 19-21 in favour of England. Eight years prior to that, during their second tour match in Tokyo, England held on for a narrow 3-6 win.
Coming into this weekend’s match, Jones has brought seven new players into his matchday 23. This includes back rower, Ben Gunter who was called into the squad midway during the tour and has forced his way onto the reserves bench. In keeping with his goal of ushering in the next generation of Brave Blossoms, Jones has selected his 20th test debutant of the year with Mitsubishi Dynaboars’ Seunghyuk Lee named on the bench as reserve prop.
The other notable selection is Nicholas McCurran who comes into the starting playmaker role at number 10. McCurran, who usually plays in the centres for his JRLO club, Toyota Verblitz will need to draw on all his experience as he looks to steer his side against an English team desperate for a win. England are currently on a five-match losing streak, with their last win being their 12-52 victory over Japan in Tokyo.
Commenting ahead of the match, Brave Blossoms Coaching Coordinator, Neal Hatley said:
“We’ve picked our best 23 to give us a good opportunity to beat England on the weekend and we’re really looking forward to the game. We’re slowly starting to build more and more depth, and our cohesion is improving every week. With only 267 caps across the side, we’re a young group, but this weekend is another great opportunity for the young team to step up and play against another top team in England.”
The match will be broadcast live in Japan on Monday 25 November from 00:40 JST on WOWOW. It will also be streamed live and via catch-up on WOWOW On-Demand.
| No. | Name | Club Team | Graduate | Heightcm | Weightkg | DOB | Cap |
| 1 | Takato OKABE | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | 180 | 105 | 1995/2/19 | 7 |
| 2 | Mamoru HARADA (VC) | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Keio Univ. | 175 | 101 | 1999/4/15 | 10 |
| 3 | Shuhei TAKEUCHI | URAYASU D-Rocks | Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ. | 183 | 115 | 1997/12/9 | 12 |
| 4 | Sanaila WAQA | HANAZONO KINTETSU LINERS | Hastings Boys’ High School | 202 | 120 | 1995/7/17 | 9 |
| 5 | Epineri ULUIVITI | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars | Ratu Kadavulevu School | 196 | 122 | 1996/7/7 | 5 |
| 6 | Kanji SHIMOKAWA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 188 | 105 | 1999/1/17 | 13 |
| 7 | Kazuki HIMENO. | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Teikyo Univ | 187 | 109 | 1994/7/27 | 35 |
| 8 | Faulua MAKISI | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 187 | 112 | 1997/1/20 | 14 |
| 9 | Naoto SAITO (C) | Stade Toulousain | Waseda Univ. | 165 | 73 | 1997/8/26 | 23 |
| 10 | Nicholas MCCURRAN | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Teikyo Univ. | 188 | 93 | 1996/6/13 | 6 |
| 11 | Jone NAIKABULA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Setsunan Univ. | 177 | 95 | 1994/4/12 | 16 |
| 12 | Siosaia FIFITA | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Tenri Univ. | 187 | 105 | 1998/12/20 | 15 |
| 13 | Dylan RILEY (VC) | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Bond Univ. | 187 | 102 | 1997/5/2 | 27 |
| 14 | Tomoki OSADA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 179 | 90 | 1999/11/25 | 16 |
| 15 | Takuro MATSUNAGA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tenri Univ. | 172 | 82 | 1998/8/13 | 3 |
| 16 | Seunghyuk LEE | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars | Teikyo Univ. | 179 | 103 | 1999/1/27 | 0 |
| 17 | Yukio MORIKAWA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Teikyo Univ. | 180 | 114 | 1993/2/6 | 4 |
| 18 | Keijiro TAMEFUSA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 180 | 108 | 2001/9/3 | 9 |
| 19 | Daichi AKIYAMA | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Teikyo Univ. | 192 | 114 | 1996/11/14 | 1 |
| 20 | Tevita TATAFU | Union Bordeaux Bègles | Tokai Univ. | 183 | 124 | 1996/1/2 | 19 |
| 21 | Ben GUNTER | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Brisbane Boys’ College | 195 | 120 | 1997/10/24 | 8 |
| 22 | Shinobu FUJIWARA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 171 | 76 | 1999/2/8 | 9 |
| 23 | Yusuke KAJIMURA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 181 | 95 | 1995/9/13 | 6 |
*(C) Captain
(VC) Vice Captain
Japan vs England Past Results:
June 22, 2024 (L) 12-52 Tokyo
November 12, 2022 (L) 52-13 London
November 18, 2018 (L) 35-15 London
July 6, 2003 (L) 20-55 Tokyo
July 3, 2003 (L) 10-37 Tokyo
May 30, 1987 (L) 7-60 Sydney (RWC 1987)
October 11, 1986 (L) 39-12 London
May 20, 1979 (L) 18-38 Tokyo
May 13, 1979 (L) 19-21 Osaka
September 28, 1971 (L) 3-6 Tokyo
September 24, 1971 (L) 19-27 Osaka
Japan Rugby 2024 Match Results
Saturday 22 June
Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2024 Japan vs England
National Stadium, Tokyo
17-52 (L)
Saturday 29 June
Japan XV vs Māori All Blacks
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo
10-36 (L)
Saturday 6 July
Japan XV vs Māori All Blacks
Toyota Stadium, Toyota City
26-14 (W)
Saturday 13 July
Japan vs Georgia
Yurtek Stadium, Sendai
23-25 (L)
Sunday 21 July
Japan vs Italy
Sapporo Dome, Sapporo
14-42 (L)
Sunday, 25 August
Pacific Nations Cup 2024 Pool B Match Canada vs Japan
BC Place Stadium, Vancouver
28-55 (W)
Saturday, 7 September
Pacific Nations Cup 2024 Pool B Match Japan vs USA
Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Saitama
41-24 (W)
Sunday, 15 September
Pacific Nations Cup 2024 Semi-Final Two Japan vs Samoa
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo
49-27 (W)
Saturday 21 September
Pacific Nations Cup 2024 Final Japan vs Fiji
Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashi Osaka
17-41 (L)
Saturday, 26 October
Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2024 Japan vs All Blacks
Nissan Stadium, Yokohama
19-64 (L)
Saturday, 9 November
France vs Japan
Stade de France, Paris
52-12 (L)
Saturday, 16 November
Japan vs Uruguay
Chambéry Savoy Stadium, Chambéry, France
36-20 (W)