Japan make changes for Scotland game

BRIGHTON, England (Sept. 21) – Japan coach Eddie Jones has named his side to take on Scotland on Wednesday in Gloucester, the Brave Blossoms’ second game of Rugby World Cup 2015.

The starting XV for the Pool B encounter shows four changes in the pack, two in the backs along with two positional switches.

Keita Inagaki and Hiroshi Yamashita start at prop, Justin Ives comes in at lock and Amanaki Lelei Mafi is handed the No. 8 jersey.

Behind the pack, Harumichi Tatekawa moves from 12 to 10, Yu Tamura starts at inside center and Kenki Fukuoka is picked on the left wing with Kotaro Matsushima moving to the opposite wing.

“We’ve got our most important game of the World Cup coming up against Scotland,” Jones said at a packed media conference attended by journalists from all over the world.

“We’ve got a short turnaround which we are used to, but we are well prepared for the game and have made a number of changes.”

“We needed some fresher legs,” Jones said. “We know Scotland have a strong maul and will use a lot of high punts. It won’t be a pretty game so we have to make sure we front up physically in the set piece. If we can do that we can put ourselves in the game.”

Inagaki and Yamashita pack down either side of Shota Horie, with Ives joining Luke Thompson in the second row.

Mafi, meanwhile, will join Leitch and Michael Broadhurst in the back row.

A groin injury ruled out Kosei Ono, so Tatekawa partners Fumiaki Tanaka at halfback, with Tamura and Male Sa’u in the centres.

Fukuoka will play on his favoured left wing with Matsushima on the right and Ayumu Goromaru at fullback.

The bench features seven players who took part in Saturday’s historic win along with Shoji Ito.

 

No

Name

Club Team

Graduate

cm

kg

D/O/B

Caps

1

Keita INAGAKI

PANASONIC Wild Knights

Kanto Gakuin Univ.

183 115 1990/6/2 7
2

Shota HORIE

PANASONIC Wild Knights

Teikyo Univ.

180 105 1986/1/21 39
3

Hiroshi YAMASHITA

KOBE STEEL Kobelco Steelers

Kyoto Sangyo Univ.

183 122 1986/1/1 46
4

Luke THOMPSON

KINTETSU Liners

Lincoln Univ.

196 108 1981/4/16 60
5

Justin IVES

CANON Eagles

Taieri College

196 105 1984/5/24 30
6 *

Michael LEITCH

TOSHIBA Brave Lupus Tokai Univ. 190 105 1988/10/7 44
7

Michael BROADHURST

RICOH BlackRams

Campion College

196 111 1986/10/30 23
8

Amanaki Lelei MAFI

NTT COMMUNICATIONS Shining Arcs

Hanazono Univ.

189 112 1990/1/11 4
9

Fumiaki TANAKA

PANASONIC Wild Knights

Kyoto Sangyo Univ.

166 71 1985/1/3 50
10

Harumichi TATEKAWA

KUBOTA Spears

Tenri Univ.

181 94 1989/12/2 40
11

Kenki FUKUOKA

Univ.of Tsukuba

Fukuoka HS

175 83 1992/9/7 16
12

Yu TAMURA

NEC Green Rockets

Meiji Univ.

181 92 1989/1/9 34
13

Male SAU

YAMAHA Jubilo

Tangaroa College

183 97 1987/10/13 24
14

Kotaro MATSUSHIMA

SUNTORY Sungoliath

Toin Gakuen HS

175 88 1993/2/26 13
15

Ayumu GOROMARU

YAMAHA Jubilo

Waseda Univ.

185 99 1986/3/1 54
16

Takeshi KIZU

KOBE STEEL Kobelco Steelers

Tokai Univ.

183 114 1988/7/15 38
17

Masataka MIKAMI

TOSHIBA Brave Lupus

Tokai Univ.

178 115 1988/6/4 30
18

Kensuke HATAKEYAMA

SUNTORY Sungoliath

Waseda Univ.

178 115 1985/8/2 69
19

Shinya MAKABE

SUNTORY Sungoliath

Chuo Univ.

192 118 1987/3/26 32
20

Shoji ITO

KOBE STEEL Kobelco Steelers

Kyoto Sangyo Univ.

191 100 1980/12/2 35
21

Hendrik TUI

SUNTORY Sungoliath

Teikyo Univ.

189 107 1987/12/13 33
22 Atsushi HIWASA SUNTORY Sungoliath Hosei Univ. 166 72 1987/5/22 48
23

Karne HESKETH

Munakata SANIX Blues

Univ. of Otago

178 98 1985/8/1 11

*CAPTAIN

 

 

 

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