Jones Reveals 2026 Preliminary Japan Squad as RWC2027 Schedule Announced
Coinciding with World Rugby’s match schedule announcement for Rugby World Cup 2027, Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones has named his Preliminary Squad for 2026. The 55-member squad, comprising 29 forwards and 26 backs gives the first indication of the playing group Jones is looking at to take the team forward in what is a hugely important year for the Brave Blossoms.
Commenting on the motivation of naming a large, preliminary squad, Jones said: “It’s always a good idea to name a squad at the start of the year to let the players know where they sit and for the players outside the squad, they know they have to keep working a bit harder. That’s what we want to see from those players outside the squad.”
In his third season back in charge of Japan, Jones will be looking for his team to continue its progression after having ushered through a new generation of playing talent over the last two years. Of the 55 players named in the squad, 12 are yet to experience test match rugby, while 23 hold just 10 caps or less. Meanwhile the remaining 20 players includes a backbone of leadership and experience with the likes of 32-test cap Captain Warner Dearns and the talismanic Michael Leitch with 92 caps.
The squad is drawn primarily from the ranks of League One, Japan’s premier club competition, while four players from Japan’s university competition have also been named. This includes the already nine-capped Waseda University speedster, Yoshitaka Yazaki and Meiji University’s star flyhalf, Ryunosuke Ito. At just 21 years of age, Ito was instrumental in Meiji winning the recent All-Japan University Championship and expectations are high that he is destined for higher honours.
Aside from JRLO and university rugby, three players in the squad currently ply their trade outside Japan. Naoto Saito, the 28-capped Brave Blossoms halfback continues to impress at Stade Toulousain in France, while 12-capped hooker Mamoru Harada will play his rugby in 2026 with Moana Pasifica in Super Rugby Pacific. He is joined by Brave Blossoms Captain, Warner Dearns who is on loan this year from Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo to the Hurricanes in New Zealand.
Following the recent announcement of the Brave Blossom’s domestic match schedule and commenting on the Preliminary Squad, Jones continued:
“This year is the first time in our history that Japan is playing against tier one countries only, which shows the change in status of Japan as a rugby country. We’ve seen a fantastic change in Japan elevating itself from a tier two to a tier one country.
“We’ve started our preparation for 2026 today by naming our Preliminary Squad. Those players are now in contention for the Nations Cup. But we will continue to watch all the players in League One closely before we announce our final squad.”
With the Preliminary Squad announcement coming on the same day as World Rugby revealing the RWC2027 match schedule, Jones added:
“With the World Cup match schedule, we’re pleased to know where we’re playing and the order we will play our pool games. Now it’s about preparing as well as we can.
“A World Cup is about accepting what you get. Our whole focus is about how well we can prepare. Going to a World Cup, you’ve got to be the best prepared team. Knowing the cities you’re playing in and the grounds you’re playing at. For example, Newcastle has a history of hosting games when the weather has been poor. We need to prepare for that. Brisbane is fast and Adelaide is a cricket oval so it’s really fast! We also have the tyranny of distance, with Brisbane to Adelaide being a long trip. We’ve got to use the time we have to make sure we prepare well”
Japan RWC2027 Pool E Fixtures
| Date | Match | Location |
| Sunday, October 3 | Japan vs Samoa | Newcastle, New South Wales |
| Saturday, October 9 | France vs Japan | Brisbane, Queensland |
| Friday, October 15 | Japan vs USA | Adelaide, South Australia |
2026 Japan Men’s Fifteens Preliminary Squad
Forwards (29)
| Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height (cm) | Weight (kg) | DOB | Cap |
| Keita INAGAKI | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Kanto Gakuin Univ. | 186 | 116 | 1990/6/2 | 53 |
| Takato OKABE | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | 180 | 105 | 1995/2/19 | 8 |
| Yota KAMIMORI | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Kindai Univ. | 172 | 105 | 1999/4/26 | 2 |
| Kenta KOBAYASHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 181 | 113 | 1999/6/2 | 9 |
| Kanato HIRANO | MIE Honda HEAT | Kyoto Sangyo Univ. | 180 | 109 | 2000/2/8 | 0 |
| Hayate ERA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Teikyo Univ. | 172 | 106 | 2001/9/18 | 6 |
| Kenji SATO | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 177 | 108 | 2003/1/4 | 9 |
| Kenshin SHIMIZU | Waseda Univ. | Kokugakuin Kugayama HS. | 178 | 105 | 2004/12/27 | 0 |
| Mamoru HARADA | Moana Pasifika | Keio Univ. | 175 | 101 | 1999/4/15 | 12 |
| Ryuji FUJIMURA | URAYASU D-Rocks | Nihon Univ. | 174 | 102 | 1998/10/3 | 0 |
| Ryosuke IWAIHARA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 184 | 115 | 1996/10/6 | 5 |
| Shuhei TAKEUCHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ. | 183 | 115 | 1997/12/9 | 24 |
| Vea TAUMOEFOLAU | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Kyoto Sangyo Univ. | 186 | 123 | 2001/11/5 | 0 |
| Keijiro TAMEFUSA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 180 | 108 | 2001/9/3 | 20 |
| Epineri ULUIVITI | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars | Ratu Kadavulevu School | 196 | 122 | 1996/7/7 | 11 |
| Jack CORNELSEN | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Univ. of Queensland | 195 | 110 | 1994/10/13 | 29 |
| Michael STOLBERG | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Anglican Church Grammar School | 202 | 116 | 1992/3/27 | 0 |
| Warner DEARNS | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO / Hurricanes | Ryutsu Keizai Univ. KASHIWA HS. | 201 | 117 | 2002/4/11 | 32 |
| Ruan BOTHA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Jeugland HS. | 205 | 120 | 1992/1/10 | 0 |
| Harry HOCKINGS | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Univ. of Queensland | 208 | 124 | 1998/7/28 | 2 |
| Waisake RARATUBUA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Tokai Univ. | 193 | 120 | 1998/3/17 | 5 |
| Ben GUNTER | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Brisbane Boys’ College | 195 | 120 | 1997/10/24 | 17 |
| Kanji SHIMOKAWA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 188 | 105 | 1999/1/17 | 23 |
| Manato NAKAMORI | Tsukuba Univ. | Toin Gakuen HS. | 190 | 93 | 2005/12/24 | 0 |
| Michael LEITCH | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tokai Univ. | 189 | 113 | 1988/10/7 | 92 |
| Tyler PAUL | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Nelson Mandela Univ. | 195 | 111 | 1995/1/20 | 4 |
| Tiennan COSTLEY | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | International Pacific Univ. | 192 | 102 | 2000/6/14 | 11 |
| Amato FAKATAVA | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Daito Bunka Univ. | 195 | 118 | 1994/12/7 | 18 |
| Faulua MAKISI | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 187 | 112 | 1997/1/20 | 23 |
Backs (26)
| Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height (cm) | Weight (kg) | DOB | Cap |
| Naoto SAITO | Stade Toulousain | Waseda Univ. | 165 | 73 | 1997/8/26 | 28 |
| Asahi DOEI | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Kyoto Sangyo Univ. | 170 | 73 | 2003/1/9 | 0 |
| Kenta FUKUDA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Meiji Univ. | 173 | 83 | 1996/12/19 | 8 |
| Shinobu FUJIWARA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 171 | 76 | 1999/2/8 | 19 |
| Ryunosuke ITO | Meiji Univ. | Kokugakuin Univ. Tochigi HS. | 172 | 77 | 2004/11/20 | 0 |
| Shinya KOMURA | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Teikyo Univ. | 180 | 92 | 2002/5/28 | 3 |
| Seungsin LEE | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Osaka Korean HS. | 176 | 86 | 2001/1/13 | 29 |
| Yuki IKEDA | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Tokai Univ. | 187 | 100 | 1995/5/21 | 2 |
| Samisoni TUA | URAYASU D-Rocks | Setsunan Univ. | 182 | 108 | 1995/5/24 | 3 |
| Rob THOMPSON | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Palmerston North Boys’ HS. | 184 | 103 | 1991/8/29 | 0 |
| Shogo NAKANO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 186 | 100 | 1997/6/11 | 11 |
| Yuya HIROSE | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 182 | 94 | 2001/4/7 | 5 |
| Dylan RILEY | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Bond Univ. | 187 | 102 | 1997/5/2 | 38 |
| Charlie LAWRENCE | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars | Hamilton Boys’ HS. | 170 | 89 | 1998/5/27 | 9 |
| Kippei ISHIDA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 167 | 75 | 2000/4/28 | 9 |
| Halatoa VAILEA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Nippon Sport Science Univ. | 185 | 104 | 1999/2/14 | 2 |
| Kazuma UEDA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Kindai Univ. | 177 | 87 | 2002/12/4 | 2 |
| Tomoki OSADA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 179 | 90 | 1999/11/25 | 26 |
| Haruto KIDA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Ritsumeikan Univ. | 176 | 90 | 1999/4/9 | 2 |
| Inoke BURUA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Ryutsu Keizai Univ. | 178 | 100 | 1999/5/30 | 0 |
| Koga NEZUKA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Hosei Univ. | 173 | 82 | 1998/9/15 | 3 |
| Taira MAIN | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Gose Industrial HS. | 178 | 90 | 2000/9/5 | 1 |
| Sam GREENE | SHIZUOKA BlueRevs | Brisbane Grammar HS. | 178 | 85 | 1994/8/16 | 6 |
| Jingo TAKENOSHITA | Meiji Univ. | Hotoku Gakuen HS. | 180 | 86 | 2004/6/11 | 0 |
| Takuro MATSUNAGA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tenri Univ. | 172 | 82 | 1998/8/13 | 5 |
| Yoshitaka YAZAKI | Waseda Univ. | Toin Gakuen HS. | 180 | 86 | 2004/5/12 | 9 |
Japan XV & Brave Blossoms Domestic Match Schedule 2025
Saturday 27 June
Japan XV vs Māori All Blacks
Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2026
Paloma Mizuho Stadium, Nagoya
Saturday 4 July
Japan vs Italy
Nations Championship 2026
Tokyo – Venue TBC
Saturday 18 July
Japan vs France
Nations Championship 2026 National Stadium, Tokyo
Saturday 8 August
Japan vs Australia
Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2026
Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashi-Osaka