Brave Blossoms Named for Historic Wembley Clash Against Springboks
Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones has named his side to take on South Africa, the reigning back-to-back World Champions, at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday, November 1. Kicking off at 16:10 local time (01:10 JST on Sunday, November 2), the match, the fourth ever between the two countries, comes nearly ten years to the day since the Brave Blossoms’ famous victory over the Springboks at Rugby World Cup in 2015.
Known affectionately as the Miracle of Brighton, Japan shocked the rugby world with their 34-32 defeat over the mighty Springboks. While the South Africans got their revenge in 2019, knocking Japan out of their home Rugby World Cup in the Quarter Final, the Brave Blossoms and Japanese rugby fans hold onto that memory from 2015 as a pivotal turning point in the Japanese game.
Looking ahead to Saturday, Japan have picked a side closely matching the one that pushed Australia all the way in the driving rain at Tokyo’s National Stadium – only to come up four points short for a final score of 15-19. Captained by lock Warner Dearns, the side sees just two new players coming into the matchday 23.
Brave Blossoms debutant Shodai Hirao, the young hooker from Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath moves onto the bench, with Kenji Sato slotting into the starting hooker role. Backrow forward Faulua Makisi rejoins the team via the bench after having last played against Fiji in the PNC Final. He will form part of a 6-2 forwards to backs bench split as Eddie Jones looks to counter South Africa’s infamous ‘bomb squad’.
Flyhalf Seungsin Lee and centre Dylan Riley join Dearns as the team’s two Vice Captains, while Brave Blossoms stalwart Michael Leitch will add his experience and nous to the Japanese pack. Leitch, who earned his 90th Japan cap last week against the Wallabies, is the only player in the side remaining from that famous 2015 team from Brighton.
From a South African perspective, lock Lood de Jager, centre Jesse Kreil and Springbok Captain and blindside flanker, Siya Kolisi are the three players playing on Saturday who also played in the Brighton match 10 years ago.
Commenting on his team selection, Brave Blossoms Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“We’re delighted to be in England to play this historic match against South Africa at Wembley Stadium. In terms of our preparation, we came off the Australian game with two good training days in Tokyo, travelled on Wednesday and then today had a light run. The players are in good spirits and are looking forward to the challenge of playing against the best team in the world.
“We understand it’s a big challenge for us but it’s not one that we will shy away from, in fact we’re excited by the prospect of playing South Africa – playing with a lot of physicality, speed when its appropriate and playing good, smart rugby. We’ve prepared like that, and I feel the players are in a good position to really take the game to the Springboks.”
The match will be broadcast live in Japan on the morning of Sunday, November 2 on NHK TV2 from 01:00, on WOWWOW Live from 00:45 and on J Sports 1 from 00:30. It will also be streamed live on NHK ONE from 01:00 and streamed live and via catch-up on WOWWOW On Demand from 00:45 and J Sports On Demand from 00:30.
| No. | Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height cm | Weight kg | DOB | Cap |
| 1 | Kenta KOBAYASHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 181 | 113 | 1999/6/2 | 5 |
| 2 | Kenji SATO | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 177 | 108 | 2003/1/4 | 5 |
| 3 | Shuhei TAKEUCHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ. | 183 | 115 | 1997/12/9 | 20 |
| 4 | Jack CORNELSEN | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Univ. of Queensland | 195 | 110 | 1994/10/13 | 25 |
| 5 | Warner DEARNS (C) | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Ryutsu Keizai Univ. KASHIWA HS. | 201 | 117 | 2002/4/11 | 28 |
| 6 | Ben GUNTER | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Brisbane Boys’ College | 195 | 120 | 1997/10/24 | 15 |
| 7 | Kanji SHIMOKAWA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 188 | 105 | 1999/1/17 | 19 |
| 8 | Michael LEITCH | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tokai Univ. | 189 | 113 | 1988/10/7 | 90 |
| 9 | Shinobu FUJIWARA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 171 | 76 | 1999/2/8 | 17 |
| 10 | Seungsin LEE (VC) | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Osaka Korean HS. | 176 | 86 | 2001/1/13 | 25 |
| 11 | Tomoki OSADA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 179 | 90 | 1999/11/25 | 22 |
| 12 | Charlie LAWRENCE | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars | Hamilton Boys’HS. | 170 | 89 | 1998/5/27 | 5 |
| 13 | Dylan RILEY (VC) | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Bond Univ. | 187 | 102 | 1997/5/2 | 34 |
| 14 | Kippei ISHIDA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 167 | 75 | 2000/4/28 | 6 |
| 15 | Yoshitaka YAZAKI | Waseda Univ. | Toin Gakuen HS. | 180 | 86 | 2004/5/12 | 6 |
| 16 | Shodai HIRAO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | 174 | 103 | 2002/10/11 | 0 |
| 17 | Ryosuke IWAIHARA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 184 | 115 | 1996/10/6 | 3 |
| 18 | Keijiro TAMEFUSA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 180 | 108 | 2001/9/3 | 16 |
| 19 | Tyler PAUL | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Nelson Mandela Univ. | 195 | 111 | 1995/1/20 | 1 |
| 20 | Faulua MAKISI | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 187 | 112 | 1997/1/20 | 20 |
| 21 | Kenta FUKUDA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Meiji Univ. | 173 | 83 | 1996/12/19 | 6 |
| 22 | Sam GREENE | SHIZUOKA BlueRevs | Brisbane Grammar HS. | 178 | 85 | 1994/8/16 | 4 |
| 23 | Tiennan COSTLEY | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | International Pacific Univ. | 192 | 102 | 2000/6/14 | 10 |
*(C) Captain
*(VC) Vice Captain
Japan National Team Autumn Match Schedule
Saturday 18 OctoberJAPAN XV vs Australia A (Uncapped)
7-71 (L)
Asahi Super Dry CHALLENGE MATCH 2025
YODOKO Sakura Stadium, Osaka
Friday 24 October
Hong Kong China vs JAPAN XV (Uncapped)
14-59 (W)
Kai Tak Stadium, Hong Kong
Saturday 25 October
Japan vs Australia
15-19 (L)
Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2025
National Stadium, Tokyo
Saturday 1 November
Kick-off 16:10 local time (01:10 JST – Sunday, November 2)
Japan vs South Africa
Lipovitan D Tour 2025
Wembley Stadium, London
Saturday 8 November
Kick-off 12:40 local time (21:40 JST)
Ireland vs Japan
Autumn Nations Series
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Saturday 15 November
Kick-off 17:40 local time (02:40 JST – Sunday, November 16)
Wales vs Japan
Autumn Nations Series
Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Saturday 22 November
Kick-off 16:00 local time (21:00 JST)
Georgia vs Japan
Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi