Brave Blossoms Side Named to Face Ireland in Newcastle

The JRFU have announced the Brave Blossoms team to take on Ireland this Saturday, July 11 in the second round of the 2026 Nations Championship. Kicking off at 20:00 local time (19:00 JST) the match will take place at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, two and a half hours drive north of Sydney.

Japan come into the match off the back of their 27-10 round-one victory over Italy at Prince Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium last weekend in Tokyo. Following their match against Ireland, the Brave Blossoms will return home to face France next weekend at Tokyo’s National Stadium. While the one-week round trip to Australia adds additional complexity to Japan’s preparations, the team will make the most of playing at the same venue where they will face Samoa next year in their first Pool E match at Rugby World Cup 2027.

Head Coach Eddie Jones has made just the one change to his matchday 23 with the introduction of Taira Main on the left wing in just his second test for Japan. The 25-year-old Ricoh Black Rams flyer, who last played for Japan against Uruguay in June 2022, will be looking to cement his place in a Brave Blossoms backline that’s starting to show real promise.

Having blooded four debutants last weekend against Italy, Jones has kept his faith with all four being named again, including two university players in replacement prop Sojiro Otsuka and flyhalf Ryunosuke Ito. Both of these young men enjoyed standout test match debuts, so Brave Blossoms fans will be keeping a close eye on them to see how they progress in their
second outing for their country.

Captain Warner Dearns will once again lead a forward pack that is one of the most balanced Japanese packs since the 2019 World Cup. The solid yet mobile tight five is complemented by a backrow combining the speed, athleticism and work ethic of openside Kanji Shimokawa and number eight Jack Cornelsen, with the grunt, size and aggression of Ben Gunter at
blindside.

Brave Blossom’s talisman, the 93-capped Michael Leitch has once again been named on the bench as part of a 6-2 forwards/backs split. Being able to play across the backrow and as a utility back, Tiennan Costley provides additional cover to Japan’s backline if required. Commenting ahead of the match, Brave Blossoms Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“The first week of the Nations Championship produced some great rugby and we are lucky
to be a part of it. This week we play a very strong team in Ireland who we know have a massive work ethic and are the third ranked team in the world.
“The team have settled in well to Newcastle, down at the beach and we’ve had a really good preparation, so we’re ready to go. The consequence of playing the game here ahead of the World Cup is that we get valuable experience in understanding the city and getting to play on this pitch. Newcastle is a beautiful city, it’s the first time for me to spend more than a day here and I’ve really enjoyed the coastal aspect and the boys have been enjoying their recoveries in the very cold water at the beach.

“Ireland present different threats to Italy. They’re much more of a possession-based team, so we’ve been working a lot on the quality of our defence and getting off the line together. Ireland present multiple threats with their pod type play and with the game at the moment,
with the quick ruck, its suiting attacking teams.”

The match will be broadcast live in Japan on WOWOW Prime from 18:50 and J Sports 1 from 18:30. 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 Brave Blossoms live when they return to Japan to face France on Saturday, July 18 at Tokyo’s National Stadium 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 Takato OKABE YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES Kansei Gakuin Univ. 180 105 1995/2/19 9
  2 Mamoru HARADA TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO Keio Univ. 175 101 1999/4/15 13
  3 Shuhei TAKEUCHI TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ. 183 115 1997/12/9 25
  4 Harry HOCKINGS TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH Univ. of Queensland 208 124 1998/7/28 3
  5 Warner DEARNS (C) TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO Ryutsu Keizai Univ. KASHIWA HS. 201 117 2002/4/11 33
  6 Ben GUNTER SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS Brisbane Boys’ College 195 120 1997/10/24 18
  7 Kanji SHIMOKAWA TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH Waseda Univ. 188 105 1999/1/17 24
  8 Jack CORNELSEN SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS Univ. of Queensland 195 110 1994/10/13 30
  9 Naoto SAITO TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH Waseda Univ. 165 73 1997/8/26 29
10 Ryunosuke ITO Meiji Univ. Kokugakuin Univ. Tochigi HS. 172 77 2004/11/20   1
  11 Taira MAIN RICOH BlackRams Tokyo Gose Industria HS. 178 89 2000/9/5 1
12 Yuya HIROSE Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY Meiji Univ. 182 94 2001/4/7 6
  13 Dylan RILEY SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS Bond Univ. 187 102 1997/5/2 39
14 Kazuma UEDA KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS Kindai Univ. 177 87 2002/12/4 3
15 Takuro MATSUNAGA TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO Tenri Univ. 172 82 1998/8/13 6
16 Hayate ERA Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY Teikyo Univ. 172 106 2001/9/18 7
  17 Sojiro OTSUKA Kwansei Gakuin Univ. Kwansei Gakuin Senior HS. 178 110 2004/7/5 1
18 Keijiro TAMEFUSA Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY Meiji Univ. 180 108 2001/9/3 21
  19 Michael STOLBERG TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO Anglican Church Grammar School 202 116 1992/3/27 1
20 Michael LEITCH TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO Tokai Univ. 189 113 1988/10/7 93
  21 Tiennan COSTLEY KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS International Pacific Univ. 192 102 2000/6/14 12
22 Itsuki KAMIMURA KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS Teikyo Univ. 168 72 2002/12/13 1
23 Sam GREENE SHIZUOKA BlueRevs   Brisbane Grammar HS. 17885 1994/8/16 6

(C) Captain

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