Japan make 4 changes for South Korea clash

TOKYO (May 15) – The Japan side to take on South Korea in the Asian 5 Nations on Saturday shows four changes from the team that took the field last weekend in Nagoya against Sri Lanka.

Shota Horie, Male Sa’u and Harumichi Tatekawa all return to the side after flying back from their respective Super Rugby sides, while Justin Ives is handed the No. 6 jersey in the absence of Hendrik Tui, who will return to the squad on May 18.

Horie will pack down between Masataka Mikami and Kensuke Hatakeyama in the front row, as head coach Eddie Jones looks to make it three wins from as many games and close in on Asia’s automatic spot at Rugby World Cup 2015.

Hitoshi Ono and Shinya Makabe line up in the second row, with Ives, captain Michael Leitch and Ryu Koliniasi Holani forming a physical back row.

In the backs, Atsushi Hiwasa and Yu Tamura retain their places at halfback with Tatekawa and Sa’u lining up in the midfield.

Akihito Yamada and Yoshikazu Fujita keep their spots on the wings, with Ayumu Goromaru – who needs just 13 points to take over from Keiji Hirose as Japan’s highest points scorer – at fullback.

Jones has opted for a traditional 5:3 split on the bench as opposed to the 6:2 split he went with last week.

Hisateru Hirashima, Hiroshi Yamashita and Kizu are the back-up front-row forwards, with Shoji Ito and former captain Takashi Kikutani providing the cover for the second and back row.

The replacement backs are Keisuke Uchida (scrum half), Ryoto Nakamura (fly half and centre), and Kotaro Matsushima (wing/full back).