Sakura Fifteens Side to Face Fiji in Lautoka Test

Fresh from their 15-24 win over their hosts in the opening fixture of their two-test tour to Fiji, Japan Head Coach Lesley McKenzie has named a rejigged Sakura Fifteen side for their final match in the Pacific Island nation. Kicking off at 15:00 local time on Friday, June 20 at Churchill Park in Lautoka, Japan will be looking to maintain their unbeaten record against a Fijiana side desperate to record a win in front of their home crowd.

While the team sees only one new player come into the matchday 23, McKenzie has made a number of changes to the starting 15, while also making several positional changes and opting for a rare, 6:2 forwards-to-backs split on the bench.

In the front row, Manami Mine and Wako Kitano start again at loosehead and tighthead respectively, while at hooker there is a direct bench swap, with Asuke Kuge coming into the starting team and Kotomi Taniguchi moving to the bench. The experienced Nijiho Nagata is once again named as the replacement tighthead, alongside Miharu Machida at loosehead. Machida, who was a late call-up to the bench last week, will be looking to add to her sole test cap after having sat out the Suva game on the bench.

The starting locks remain the same with Yuna Sato and Otoka Yoshimura packing down in the engine room, while Jennifer Nduka starts from the bench as the replacement second row. In the back row, Iroha Nagata leads the team as Captain from the openside flank, with Masami Kawamura moving from the reserves bench to the blindside and the experienced Ayano Nagai starting at number eight. Japan’s most capped player, Seina Saito joins Sakura Korai this week as the two replacement backrowers on a forwards dominated bench.

In the halves, McKenzie has made a direct swap at nine and 10, with Megumi Abe and Ayasa Otsuka starting at half back and fly half respectively, while last week’s playmaking combination of Moe Tsukui and Minori Yamamoto move to the bench.

Sakurako Hatada, who last week played at outside centre moves two places across to the left wing, while Mana Furuta moves from inside to outside centre, with Haruka Hirotsu promoted from the bench to starting inside centre. The remaining back three are the same as last week, with Nao Ando on the right wing, and Sora Nishimura at fullback.

Japan come into Friday’s match having faced Fiji on five previous occasions and currently enjoy a 100%-win record against the Pacific Islanders. Having defeated their hosts in their opening test last week, the Sakura Fifteen will be expecting a tougher challenge as Fiji look to record their first ever win over Japan in front of the famously rowdy and passionate home crowd in Lautoka.

Japan vs Fiji Past Results
14 June 2024 (W) 15-24 Suva
16 September 2023 (W) 41-36 Tokyo　　
10 September 2023 (W) 29-24 Fukuoka
1 May 2022 (W) 28-14 Gold Coast
13 December 2016 (W) 55-0 Hong Kong