Jones Names Japan U23 Side for Historic Randwick Clash
Japan Head Coach, Eddie Jones has named his side to take on Sydney club side Randwick in the final fixture of their three-match tour to Australia. Kicking off at 14:00 local time (13:00 JST) on Tuesday, April 15, the match will take place at the iconic Coogee Oval, in the heart of the picturesque beachside suburb of Coogee.
The match will hold special significance for Jones who started both his senior playing and coaching careers at the historic Sydney club which hosts a roster of famous Australian players who came up through its ranks.
The game follows Japan’s 54-26 loss to Australia U20 last Saturday in Coffs Harbour. While the final score certainly didn’t flatter the visitors, the result must be seen in context. The Australians opted to play with an 11-man reserves bench, with rolling substitutions. With Japan leading 14-19 at half time, their pack struggled in the second half when their hosts brought on what was essentially a brand-new forward pack.
This was a similar case in their opening match against the Aussie Baa-Baas. Japan had established a 7-43 lead up to the 60th minute, but following a raft of substitutions, the Baa-Baas ran in 24 unanswered points in the last 20 minutes. In spite of their courageous fightback, Japan were able to hold on and secured a gutsy 31-43 win.
The matchday 23 set to take on Randwick has six changes from the team that lost to Australia U20. The starting backline sees a change at Number 10 with Kengo Nonaka being promoted from the reserves bench. Meanwhile Chisu Lee moves into the side for his first match of the tour at starting Outside Centre at the expense of Shuho Fukushima who moves to the bench.
The three remaining changes are also on the reserves bench, with Hooker, Hampei Nishino, Tighthead Prop, Kosuke Sugiura and Backrower, Tenta Kobayashi all being called into the matchday side for the first time on tour.
Commenting ahead of the Randwick match, Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“Our game against the Baa-Baas was mostly against country players. They’re tough and physical, but not particularly fast. The Australia U20 is ranked sixth in the world, compared to Japan U20, which is 15th. We wanted to play a team that’s well above us to test ourselves. Now against Randwick we will face a bit of a mix of both styles. They’ll have the physicality, and they’ll have a bit more speed. They’ll have older players and it’s about our players accumulating experience against tough physical teams.”
“It will be an honour for our players to play at Coogee Oval in front of so many former greats. It will be an historic occasion. Randwick have played the All Blacks and Argentina and they’re the only club team in Australia to ever play international teams and they’re continuing that tradition.
“They’re going to put their strongest team out so we’ll just have to wait and see. They were Champions of Sydney Rugby last year and there’s at least seven of those players still playing this year for Randwick. We anticipate a very, very hard game.”
The Japan U23 vs Randwick fixture will be streamed live in Japan on JSports from 13:55 and in Australia on Stan Sports.
*(C) Team Captain
| No | Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height cm | Weight kg | DOB |
| 1 | Sojiro OTSUKA | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | Kwansei Gakuin Senior HS | 178 | 110 | 2004/7/5 |
| 2 | Kenshin SHIMIZU (C) | Waseda Univ. | Kokugakuin Kugayama HS | 178 | 105 | 2004/12/27 |
| 3 | Yuta HATTA | Kyoto Sangyo Univ. | Joto HS | 185 | 115 | 2004/4/5 |
| 4 | Shuntaro ISOBE | Tsukuba Univ. | Kokugakuin Kugayama HS | 190 | 108 | 2004/7/14 |
| 5 | Yotaro MONOBE | Meiji Univ. | Chubu Univ. Haruhigaoka HS | 192 | 116 | 2004/9/28 |
| 6 | Chuka ISHIBASHI | Kyoto Sangyo Univ. | Hotoku Gakuen HS | 190 | 102 | 2004/4/10 |
| 7 | Manato NAKAMORI | Tsukuba Univ. | Toin Gakuen HS | 190 | 93 | 2005/12/24 |
| 8 | Miuaustin MORIYAMA | Toyo Univ. | Meguro Gakuin HS | 183 | 102 | 2003/9/23 |
| 9 | Joji TAKAKI | Kyoto Sangyo Univ. | Higashi Fukuoka HS | 168 | 71 | 2004/9/11 |
| 10 | Kengo NONAKA | Waseda Univ. | Tokai Univ. Osaka Gyosei HS | 180 | 93 | 2003/4/29 |
| 11 | Eito SHIRAI | Meiji Univ. | Toin Gakuen HS | 178 | 83 | 2005/10/22 |
| 12 | Shota TAIRA | Meiji Univ. | Higashi Fukuoka HS | 178 | 94 | 2003/11/18 |
| 13 | Chisu LEE | Korea Univ. | Osaka Chosen HS | 180 | 82 | 2004/11/6 |
| 14 | Kenzo TANAKA | Waseda Univ. | Toin Gakuen HS | 172 | 75 | 2005/8/7 |
| 15 | Jingo TAKENOSHITA | Meiji Univ. | Hotoku Gakuen HS | 180 | 86 | 2004/6/11 |
| 16 | Hampei NISHINO | Meiji Univ. | Higashi Fukuoka HS | 176 | 104 | 2003/5/22 |
| 17 | Airo SUGIMOTO | Waseda Univ. | Kokugakuin Kugayama HS | 178 | 106 | 2004/9/23 |
| 18 | Kosuke SUGIURA | Tokai Univ. | Nagoya HS. | 177 | 110 | 2003/12/22 |
| 19 | Shusui KAMEI | Meiji Univ. | Nagasaki Hokuyodai HS | 191 | 90 | 2004/10/27 |
| 20 | Tenta KOBAYASHI | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | Kyoto Seisho HS. | 185 | 105 | 2003/11/27 |
| 21 | Yamato MURATA | Kyoto Sangyo Univ. | Hotoku Gakuen HS | 168 | 73 | 2004/10/15 |
| 22 | Shunsuke UENOBO | Tenri Univ. | Iwamichisuikan HS | 183 | 86 | 2003/9/29 |
| 23 | Shuho FUKUSHIMA | Waseda Univ. | Shuyukan HS | 183 | 90 | 2003/5/22 |
Japan U23 2025 Australian Tour
Saturday 5 April
Australian Barbarians vs Japan U23
Coffs Harbour
31-43 (W)
Friday 11 April
Australian U20 vs Japan U23
17:30 Kick-off (16:30 Japan Time)
Coffs Harbour
54-26 (L)
Tuesday 15 April
Randwick vs Japan U23
14:00 Kick-off (13:00 Japan Time)
Randwick Rugby Club, Sydney