Brave Blossoms Team Announced for France Test
The JRFU have named the Brave Blossoms team to take on France this Saturday, July 18 in Tokyo in the third round of the 2026 Nations Championship. Kicking off at 17:40 at the National Stadium in Tokyo, the match sees the Brave Blossoms return to Japan following their one-week, round-two trip to Australia where they faced Ireland.
Having defeated Italy 27-10 in their first match at home in Tokyo, then falling to Ireland 20-36 on the road, Japan will be looking to put in an all-round performance against the French to get their Nations Championship campaign back on track.
Playing in front of a home crowd and with conditions expected to be hot, wet and humid, the Brave Blossoms will enjoy some advantage as hosts, however coming up against a fourth ranked French side who last week monstered Australia in Brisbane 26-42, it won’t be an easy day in the office.
Like Japan, France also come into the match with one win and a loss following their 2-point defeat to New Zealand in round one and their win over the Aussies. As such, it will be all to play for as both teams look to finish off the Southern Hemisphere leg on a high before the Championship resumes in November in Europe.
Head Coach Eddie Jones has made several changes to the matchday-23 from last weekend’s match in Newcastle. Captain Warner Dearns is one of 12 players that retain their positions alongside young flyhalf Rynosuke Ito who has impressed over three straight weeks – firstly with the JAPAN XV and then in his two tests for Japan.
Four players have been rotated between the bench and starting side including Sojiro Otsuka at tighthead. The young prop from Kwansei Gakuin University is set to earn his first start in just his third test. Alongside Ito at number 10, they are two players who still compete in Japan’s university competition, with both showing they are more than ready for the rigours of test match rugby.
The other positional change sees Ben Gunter move from the blindside flank to openside. The 120 kg wrecking ball has been one of Japan’s best over the last two weeks. Celebrating his 20th cap for Japan on Saturday, Gunter will be partnered by debutant Esei Haangana at blindside, with Jones opting for two 120 kg bodies in the backrow to counter the expected physicality and size of the French pack.
Joining Haangana are two additional debutants in replacement prop, Izi Sword from the Kubota Spears and reserve utility back, Shunsuke Uenobo who plays his rugby with the Kobe Steelers. They are joined on the bench by Brave Blossom’s talisman, the 94-capped Michael Leitch as part of a 6-2 forwards/backs split. Being able to play across the backrow and as a utility back, Tiennan Costley will also start from the pine and provide additional cover to Japan’s backline if required.
Commenting ahead of the match, Brave Blossoms Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“We know the battle against France up front is going to be very important and will probably go a long way to deciding the game. We feel that the pack we’ve chosen is well equipped to handle the situation. The French play a bit of a different game. You have a lot of eight-on-eight contests, which considering the way the game is played now, is relatively rare. We wanted to pick a pack that can beat France in that eight-on-eight contest. We’ve picked a bigger back row this week and given the likely conditions that it will be hot, humid and rain, it will be a forwards battle and we’ve got the men in there to do the job for us.”
The match will be broadcast live in Japan on WOWOW Prime from 17:10 and J Sports 4 from 17:00. It will also be streamed live and available via catch-up on both WOWOW On Demand and J Sports On Demand.
Fans looking to catch the match live can pick up tickets via the JRFU’s English-language ticketing website at: https://quick.pia.jp/japan-rugby_en/.
| No. | Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height cm | Weight kg | DOB | Cap |
| 1 | Sojiro OTSUKA | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | Kansei Gakuin Senior HS. | 178 | 110 | 2004/7/5 | 2 |
| 2 | Hayate ERA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Teikyo Univ. | 172 | 106 | 2001/9/18 | 8 |
| 3 | Keijiro TAMEFUSA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 180 | 108 | 2001/9/3 | 22 |
| 4 | Harry HOCKINGS | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Univ. of Queensland | 208 | 124 | 1998/7/28 | 4 |
| 5 | Warner DEARNS (C) | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Ryutsu Keizai Univ. KASHIWA HS. | 201 | 117 | 2002/4/11 | 34 |
| 6 | Esei HAANGANA | URAYASU D-Rocks | St. Paul Catholic H.S. | 198 | 120 | 1999/4/21 | 0 |
| 7 | Ben GUNTER | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Brisbane Boys’ College | 195 | 120 | 1997/10/24 | 19 |
| 8 | Jack CORNELSEN | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Univ. of Queensland | 195 | 110 | 1994/10/13 | 31 |
| 9 | Naoto SAITO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 165 | 73 | 1997/8/26 | 30 |
| 10 | Ryunosuke ITO | Meiji Univ. | Kokugakuin Univ. Tochigi HS. | 172 | 77 | 2004/11/20 | 2 |
| 11 | Kippei ISHIDA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 167 | 75 | 2000/4/28 | 10 |
| 12 | Samisoni TUA | URAYASU D-Rocks | Setsunan Univ. | 182 | 108 | 1995/5/24 | 3 |
| 13 | Dylan RILEY | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Bond Univ. | 187 | 102 | 1997/5/2 | 40 |
| 14 | Kazuma UEDA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Kindai Univ. | 177 | 87 | 2002/12/4 | 4 |
| 15 | Takuro MATSUNAGA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tenri Univ. | 172 | 82 | 1998/8/13 | 7 |
| 16 | Kenji SATO | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 177 | 108 | 2003/1/4 | 9 |
| 17 | Takato OKABE | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | 180 | 105 | 1995/2/19 | 10 |
| 18 | Izi SWORD | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Takushoku Univ. | 190 | 120 | 2001/6/7 | 0 |
| 19 | Michael STOLBERG | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Anglican Church Grammar School | 202 | 116 | 1992/3/27 | 2 |
| 20 | Michael LEITCH | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tokai Univ. | 189 | 113 | 1988/10/7 | 94 |
| 21 | Tiennan COSTLEY | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | International Pacific Univ. | 192 | 102 | 2000/6/14 | 13 |
| 22 | Taira MAIN | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Gose Industrial HS. | 178 | 89 | 2000/9/5 | 2 |
| 23 | Shunsuke UENOBO | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Tenri Univ. | 183 | 86 | 2003/9/29 | 0 |