Sakura Fifteen Rugby World Cup Squad Announced

The Japan Rugby Football Union has today announced the 32 players and team staff making up the Japan Women’s National Team that will compete at Rugby World Cup 2025 in England. Kicking off on Friday, August 22 when hosts England take on the USA, this year’s tournament promises to be the biggest ever for the women’s game.

Drawn in Pool C, Japan are set to face Ireland, Spain and six-time RWC Champions and current two-time defending Champions, New Zealand. The Sakura Fifteen will be looking to put in their strongest ever World Cup performance, with reaching the Quarter Finals and making the last-eight being the stated aim of the team.  

The Sakura Fifteen will depart Japan for Italy on August 2 where they will play Le Azzurre in a warm-up test on Saturday, August 9 in Calvisano, 100 kilometres east of Milan. They will then head to England for their pre-World Cup camp as they make their final preparations for their must-win opening Pool C match against Ireland on Sunday, August 24 at Franklin’s Gardens in Northampton.

They will then face New Zealand at Sandy Park in Exeter, on England’s South Coast, before heading north for their final pool match against Spain in York, at York Community Stadium. If they make it out of their pool, they will return to Sandy Park in Exeter for the Quarter Finals. The two Semi Finals will be held at Ashton Gate in Bristol, with the Final and Third Place Play-Off to be played at Twickenham, the home of English Rugby.

With an unbeaten, five-match winning streak in 2025, including their first ever win over the USA and a two-match home series win over their Pool C rivals Spain, the Sakura Fifteen depart Japan well prepared and full of confidence. Their away match against Italy will provide a stern test ahead of what will be three hugely challenging Pool C matchups.

Captained by 39-cap veteran Iroha Nagata, the 32-member squad consists of 18 forwards and 14 backs. It combines a solid mix of experience and leadership, with an average of 23 test caps per player across the squad. This includes 12 players with 25 caps or more, while only three players hold less than 10 caps. This level of experience is a notable feature of Japan’s 2025 World Cup squad, with the Sakura Fifteen benefiting from the expanded annual test match calendar since the introduction of World Rugby’s WXV tournament in 2023.

Speaking at a press conference when the squad was announced at Tokyo’s famous Meiji Kinenkan, Sakura Fifteen Head Coach Lesley McKenzie commented:

“I’m immensely proud to announce this squad. It’s been three years since this World Cup cycle began and thanks to the support of the JRFU, the new competitions from World Rugby and the work, dedication and passion of the players and staff, we’re a very different team than when we set out three years ago. The challenge that lies ahead is a little more familiar, yet it’s no less exciting. It’s starting to get very tangible as we leave next week for the Italy warm-up.

“We’ve got a fairly tough pool sequence in that we start with Ireland who have in two years gone from the third tier to the first tier of the WXV competition. They’ve grown in leaps and bounds over the last two years, including beating New Zealand last year. They will be our toughest challenge and our benchmark for success in terms of working towards a Quarter Final spot.

“Following Ireland, we will play the Black Ferns who are two-time defending Champions, which is enough to put a spark up any training week. We then finish our pool against Spain who have just been here in Japan for two weeks and you can see how rapidly they progressed from the first game to the second. We’re anticipating really challenging, high quality and determined opposition in the pool phase, which is exciting and will offer a real spectacle. These matches are going to be some real hallmarks of what women’s World Cup rugby looks like.”

Sakura Fifteen Rugby World Cup 2025 Squad

(C) Captain

Position	Name	Club Team	Company/School	Height(cm)	Weight(kg)	DOB	Caps
PR	Sachiko KATO	YOKOGAWA Musashino Artemi-Stars	SECOM CO., LTD.	164	90	2000/2/19	29
PR	Wako KITANO	MIE PEARLS	Sumitomo Wiring Systems	167	92	1999/9/8	21
PR	Hinata KOMAKI	Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix	Sankyu Inc.	165	78	2001/5/9	21
PR	Nijiho NAGATA	MIE PEARLS	SEIBUNSHA Co., Ltd.	162	80	2000/12/6	29
PR	Miharu MACHIDA	Japan Univ. of Economics	Japan Univ. of Economics	172	90	2004/5/26	3
PR	Manami MINE	Nippon Sport Science Univ.	Nippon Sport Science Univ.	163	77	2003/9/11	11
HO	Asuka KUGE	ARUKAS QUEEN KUMAGAYA	Goto Hygiene Consultant	164	78	1994/9/22	21
HO	Ayumu KOKAJI	Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix	OSP Holdings co., ltd.	160	80	2000/2/19	11
HO	Kotomi TANIGUCHI	YOKOGAWA Musashino Artemi-Stars	NKS Corp	163	75	1995/4/10	25
LO	Ayano SAKURAI	YOKOGAWA Musashino Artemi-Stars	NTT Facilities Inc.	167	73	1996/4/15	22
LO	Yuna SATO	Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix	Sankyu Inc.	170	76	1998/9/11	23
LO	Otoka YOSHIMURA	ARUKAS QUEEN KUMAGAYA	Saitamaken Shinkin Bank.	174	83	2001/5/15	28
BR	Masami KAWAMURA	YOKOGAWA Musashino Artemi-Stars	Samko Gakuen Tokyo Resort & Sports vocational school	173	75	1999/7/13	21
BR	Sakurako KORAI	Nippon Sport Science Univ.	Nippon Sport Science Univ.	168	73	2003/4/9	21
BR	Seina SAITO	MIE PEARLS	Eiwatech Co.,Ltd.	164	72	1992/5/30	49
BR	Iroha NAGATA (C)	ARUKAS QUEEN KUMAGAYA	Kanto Foods Co.,Ltd.	168	70	1998/12/21	39
BR	Kyoko HOSOKAWA	MIE PEARLS	Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd.	164	71	1999/7/8	17
BR	Jennifer NDUKA	Hokkaido Barbarians Diana	Medical System Network	168	80	2000/10/18	14
SH	Megumi ABE	ARUKAS QUEEN KUMAGAYA	RDC Co.,Ltd.	147	55	1998/4/28	31
SH	Moe TSUKUI	YOKOGAWA Musashino Artemi-Stars	LIBEST Corp.	153	53	2000/3/28	41
SO	Ayasa OTSUKA	ARUKAS QUEEN KUMAGAYA	One Logistics Co., Ltd.	163	65	1999/5/5	35
SO	Minori YAMAMOTO	YOKOHAMA TKM	–	169	70	1996/12/9	37
CTB	Nao ANDO	BRAVE LOUVE	Valuence Holdings Inc.	169	64	2001/7/17	12
CTB	Kanako KOBAYASHI	YOKOGAWA Musashino Artemi-Stars	Shonan Kamakura General Hospital	164	68	1998/11/13	20
CTB	Sakurako HATADA	Nippon Sport Science Univ.	Nippon Sport Science Univ.	161	65	2003/5/8	8
CTB	Mana FURUTA	Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix	NTT Facilities Inc.	167	70	1997/11/16	35
CTB	Haruka HIROTSU	Nanairo PRISM FUKUOKA	Kyushu Fuundo Sales Co., Ltd.	169	71	2000/10/29	16
WTB	Komachi IMAKUGI	ARUKAS QUEEN KUMAGAYA	OKINAYA Co.,Ltd.	158	60	2002/1/6	30
WTB	Mele Yua Havili KAGAWA	Nanairo PRISM FUKUOKA	CellSource Co., Ltd.	171	75	2001/9/29	5
WTB	Misaki MATSUMURA	Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix	Waseda Univ.	169	72	2005/3/6	12
FB	Sora NISHIMURA	MIE PEARLS	Choko Co.，Ltd.	167	68	2000/9/29	20
FB	Rinka MATSUDA	Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix	Toppan Inc.	171	74	2001/12/5	14

Sakura Fifteen Upcoming Match Schedule 2025

Saturday 9 August

Italy v Japan

Calvisano, Italy

Rugby World Cup 2025 Pool C

Sunday 24 August

Ireland v Japan

Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton

Sunday 31 August

New Zealand v Japan

Sandy Park, Exeter

Sunday 7 September

Japan v Spain

York Community Stadium, York