Brave Blossoms Squad Announced Ahead of Inaugural Nations Championship
Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones has named his first Brave Blossoms squad for 2026. The 35-member squad, comprising 19 forwards and 16 backs will come together on Friday, June 19 for a training camp in Miyazaki, on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, ahead of their first match in the 2026 Nations Championship against Italy in Tokyo on July 4.
Prior to the full squad coming together, 12 members of the squad announced today will join up with 21 members of the wider Japan training squad from July 13 in Miyazaki as the JAPAN XV prepare for their un-capped match against the Māori All Blacks on Saturday, 27 June at Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya.
Japan’s match against Italy will be the first of three matches in the Southern Hemisphere leg of the Nations Championship where they will also face Ireland on July 11 at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, Australia followed by France at Tokyo’s National Stadium on July 18.
The competition will reconvene again in November for the Northern Hemisphere leg with the Brave Blossoms set to face Wales, England and Scotland in Cardiff, London and Edinburgh respectively. All 12 participating teams will then battle it out across the Finals weekend in London on November 27-29.
Commenting at a press conference in Tokyo to announce the squad, Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“Going into the Nations Championship, our aim is to be the team of the tournament, so that at the end of the tournament, the team that everybody wants to watch is Japan. We’ve got two weeks to get ready for the game against Italy from when we assemble in Miyazaki. Italy are the most improved team in the world. Their work rate off the ball is higher than any other team, so to beat them, we’re going to have to beat them in that area. Our work off the ball will have to be exceptional. If we can play hard off the ball, we’ve got a good chance of beating them.”
While the Brave Blossoms squad includes a number of experienced test campaigners and leaders, Jones continues with his mantra of bringing through Japan’s next generation of playing talent ahead of next year’s World Cup in Australia. Of the 35 players announced today, 10 are uncapped while 13 hold just ten caps or less. Addressing this aspect, Jones said, “When you look at the squad we’ve picked, there are probably ten players who are unavailable that would normally be in our top 23. They’ve been replaced by ten new caps, who now get an opportunity.”
Of the 35 players in the squad 29 are drawn from JRLO which came to a thrilling conclusion in Tokyo over the weekend. Three members play in Japan’s university competition, while another three played their club rugby this season outside of Japan. This includes Warner Dearns and Mamoru Harada who played in Super Rugby Pacific and Naoto Saito who recently finished his stint with French Top 14 club, Stade Toulousain.
Following their three Nations Championship matches in July, the Brave Blossoms will also play a two-match home and away series against the Australia in August before returning to Niigata City in September to host Canada in a one-off test match.
Fans looking to catch the action live for the matches played in Japan can purchase tickets via the JRFU’s English-language ticketing website at: https://quick.pia.jp/japan-rugby_en/. Tickets are currently on sale for JAPAN XV vs Māori All Blacks, Japan vs Italy and Japan vs France.
2026 Japan Men’s Fifteens Squad
Forwards (19)
| Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height | Weight | DOB | Cap |
| Sojiro OTSUKA | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | Kwansei Gakuin Senior HS. | 178 | 110 | 2004/7/5 | 0 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Mamoru HARADA | Moana Pasifika | Keio Univ. | 175 | 101 | 1999/4/15 | 12 |
| Izi SWORD | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Takushoku Univ. | 190 | 120 | 2001/6/7 | 0 |
| Shuhei TAKEUCHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ. | 183 | 115 | 1997/12/9 | 24 |
| Keijiro TAMEFUSA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 180 | 108 | 2001/9/3 | 20 |
| 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 | Ryutsu Keizai Univ. KASHIWA HS. | 201 | 117 | 2002/4/11 | 32 |
| Harry HOCKINGS | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Univ. of Queensland | 208 | 124 | 1998/7/28 | 2 |
| Ben GUNTER | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Brisbane Boys’ College | 195 | 120 | 1997/10/24 | 17 |
| Tiennan COSTLEY | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | International Pacific Univ. | 192 | 102 | 2000/6/14 | 11 |
| Kanji SHIMOKAWA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 188 | 105 | 1999/1/17 | 23 |
| Waisake RARATUBUA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Tokai Univ. | 193 | 120 | 1998/3/17 | 5 |
| Esei HAANGANA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | St. Paul Catholic H.S. | 198 | 120 | 1999/4/21 | 0 |
| Michael LEITCH | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tokai Univ. | 189 | 113 | 1988/10/7 | 92 |
Backs (16)
| Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height | Weight | DOB | Cap |
| Itsuki KAMIMURA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Teikyo Univ. | 168 | 72 | 2002/12/13 | 0 |
| Naoto SAITO | Stade Toulousain | Waseda Univ. | 165 | 73 | 1997/8/26 | 28 |
| Takuro HOJO | MIE Honda HEAT | Tenri Univ. | 174 | 80 | 2001/9/18 | 0 |
| Haruto WATANABE | Kindai Univ. | Hotoku Gakuen HS. | 171 | 76 | 2004/12/10 | 0 |
| 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 |
| Samisoni TUA | URAYASU D-Rocks | Setsunan Univ. | 182 | 108 | 1995/5/24 | 3 |
| 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 |
| Kippei ISHIDA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 167 | 75 | 2000/4/28 | 9 |
| Kazuma UEDA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Kindai Univ. | 177 | 87 | 2002/12/4 | 2 |
| 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 |
| Shunsuke UENOBO | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Tenri Univ. | 183 | 86 | 2003/9/29 | 0 |
| Takuro MATSUNAGA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tenri Univ. | 172 | 82 | 1998/8/13 | 5 |
*Players Unavailable due to fitness or injury concerns
Keita Inagaki (Saitama Wild Knights)
Kenta Kobayashi (Tokyo Sungoliath)
Ruan Bota (Kubota Spears)
Manato Nakamori (University of Tsukuba)
Tyler Paul (Kubota Spears)
Austin Moriyama (Urayasu D-Rocks)
Amato Fakatava (Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo)
Makisi Faulua (Kubota Spears)
Shinobu Fujiwara (Kubota Spears)
Seungsin Lee (Kobelco Kobe Steelers)
Sho Okumura (Shizuoka Blue Revs)
Charlie Lawrence (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars)
Tomoki Nagata (Saitama Wild Knights)
Yoshitaka
Yazaki (Waseda University)
2026 Nations Championship Japan Match Schedule
Southern Hemisphere Series
Saturday, July 4
Japan v Italy
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo
Saturday, July 11
Japan v Ireland
McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle, Australia
Saturday, July 18
Japan v France
National Stadium, Tokyo
Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2026 and Lipovitan D Tour 2026
Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2026
Saturday 8 August
Japan vs Australia
Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashi-Osaka
Lipovitan D Tour 2026
Saturday 15 August
Australia vs Japan
Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville, Australia
Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2026
Saturday 5 September
Japan v Canada
Denka Big Swan Stadium, Niigata City.