Jones Reveals Final Brave Blossoms Squad for PNC
Following the Brave Blossoms’ latest training camp in Miyazaki, Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones has revealed his final 28-member squad for this year’s Pacific Nations Cup. Comprising 16 forwards and 12 backs, the squad was trimmed down from the initial 37 players who assembled in camp on the southern island of Kyushyu two weeks ago.
After having come Runners Up last year following their defeat to the Flying Fijians in the Final in Osaka, the Brave Blossoms will be looking to go all the way this year. Their first assignment will be their opening Pool B clash against Canada this Saturday, August 30 at Yurtec Stadium in Japan’s northern city of Sendai.
The group will then travel to California for their second Pool B match against the USA at Heart Health Park in Sacramento on Saturday, September 6. The squad will remain in the USA for the finals series which begin on Sunday, September 14. The first weekend comprising the Fifth Place Playoff and Semi-Finals will take place in Denver, Colorado. The remaining four teams will then battle it out on Saturday, September 20 in the Third Place Playoff and Final in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In picking his squad, Jones has once again stuck firmly to his vision of bringing through Japan’s next generation of Brave Blossoms with the group largely inexperienced in test match rugby. Of the 28 members, eight are uncapped, while nine hold just 10 test caps or less. At the other end of the experience ledger, only three players hold 20 or more caps.
With the talismanic Michael Lietch unavailable due to personal reasons, Jones has also announced new Co-Captains with lock Warner Dearns (23 caps) and hooker Mamoru Harada (12 caps) set to share the Captaincy for the upcoming matches. This announcement was however tempered by the news that Harada is set to miss the opening round at least, after picking up an injury during the training camp.
Commenting on his selection of Dearns and Harada as Co-Captains, Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“A strong recommendation came from Michael Leitch which I took pretty seriously. Michael is the most influential person in Japanese rugby and has been since before 2015. He was quite adamant that these two boys both have the potential to do it well.
“Warner is a young guy and he’s still trying to find the best of himself and sometimes responsibility helps bring that out. We want him to be the best lock in the world and believe he’s capable of doing that. The players like playing with him, they respect him a lot and he’s got a good relationship with Harada.
“They’ve got different strengths. Warner’s strengths are more on the field, whereas Harada’s strength is in leadership, particularly off the field in terms of the culture and behaviour of the team, so together they’re a really good combination.”
Fans looking to catch the action live can purchase tickets for the Japan v Canada Pool B fixture in Sendai on Saturday, August 30 via the newly optimised English-language ticketing website at: https://quick.pia.jp/japan-rugby_en/
Brave Blossoms Pacific Nations Cup 2025 Squad
Forwards (16)
| Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height (cm) | Weight (kg) | DOB | Cap |
| Ryosuke IWAIHARA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 184 | 115 | 1996/10/6 | 0 |
|
Kenta KOBAYASHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 181 | 113 | 1999/6/2 | 0 |
| Sena KIMURA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tokai Univ. | 175 | 105 | 1999/6/24 | 1 |
| Shuhei TAKEUCHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ. | 183 | 115 | 1997/12/9 | 15 |
| Keijiro TAMEFUSA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 180 | 108 | 2001/9/3 | 11 |
| Hayate ERA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Teikyo Univ. | 172 | 106 | 2001/9/18 | 1 |
| Kenji SATO | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 177 | 108 | 2003/1/4 | 0 |
| Shodai HIRAO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | 174 | 103 | 2002/10/11 | 0 |
| Waisake RARATUBUA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Tokai Univ. | 193 | 120 | 1998/3/17 | 2 |
| Warner DEARNS (CC) | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Ryutsu Keizai Univ. KASHIWA HS. | 201 | 117 | 2002/4/11 | 23 |
| Akito OKUI | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Teikyo Univ. | 178 | 105 | 2001/9/17 | 0 |
| Ben GUNTER | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Brisbane Boys’ College | 195 | 120 | 1997/10/24 | 11 |
| Kanji SHIMOKAWA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 188 | 105 | 1999/1/17 | 14 |
| Tiennan COSTLEY | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | International Pacific Univ. | 192 | 102 | 2000/6/14 | 6 |
| Amato FAKATAVA | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Daito Bunka Univ. | 195 | 118 | 1994/12/7 | 14 |
| Faulua MAKISI | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 187 | 112 | 1997/1/20 | 16 |
Backs (12)
| Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height (cm) | Weight (kg) | DOB | Cap |
| Kenta FUKUDA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Meiji Univ. | 173 | 83 | 1996/12/19 | 1 |
| Shinobu FUJIWARA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 171 | 76 | 1999/2/8 | 12 |
| Seungsin LEE | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Osaka Korean HS. | 176 | 86 | 2001/1/13 | 20 |
| Shogo NAKANO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 186 | 100 | 1997/6/11 | 9 |
| Yuya HIROSE | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 182 | 94 | 2001/4/7 | 0 |
| Dylan RILEY | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Bond Univ. | 187 | 102 | 1997/5/2 | 30 |
| Charlie LAWRENCE | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars | Hamilton Boys’HS. | 171 | 90 | 1998/5/27 | 0 |
| Kippei ISHIDA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 167 | 75 | 2000/4/28 | 2 |
| Tomoki OSADA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 179 | 90 | 1999/11/25 | 17 |
| Haruto KIDA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Ritsumeikan Univ. | 176 | 90 | 1999/4/9 | 0 |
| Malo TUITAMA | SHIZUOKA BlueRevs | Scots College | 182 | 91 | 1996/3/23 | 8 |
| Sam GREENE | SHIZUOKA BlueRevs | Brisbane Grammar HS. | 178 | 85 | 1994/8/16 | 1 |
Brave Blossoms Upcoming Match Schedule
Saturday 30 August
Japan vs Canada
Pacific Nations Cup 2025 (Pool B)
Yurtec Stadium, Sendai
Saturday 6 September
USA vs Japan
Pacific Nations Cup 2025 (Pool B)
Heart Health Park, Sacramento
Saturday 25 October
Japan vs Australia
Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2025
National Stadium, Tokyo
Saturday 1 November
Japan vs South Africa
Lipovitan D Tour 2025
London
Saturday 8 November
Ireland vs Japan
Autumn Nations Series
Dublin
Saturday 15 November
Wales vs Japan
Autumn Nations Series
Cardiff
Saturday 22 November
Georgia vs Japan
Venue TBC