Brave Blossoms All Set For Wallaby Rematch in Townsville
Head Coach Eddie Jones has named his Brave Blossoms side to take on Australia this Saturday, August 15 in their Lipovitan D Tour 2026 match at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville. Kicking off at 15:15 local time, 14:15 JST, the match is the second in a two-match series and follows Japan’s narrow 32-35 loss in the opening fixture last Saturday in Osaka.
Jones has shown his faith in the team that took Australia all the way in Hanazono with just three new players coming into the matchday 23. Haruto Kida moves back into the side to add his speed to the left wing, while tighthead prop Izi Sword is set to earn his second cap from the reserves bench. He is joined by replacement scrumhalf Itsuki Kamimura who comes into the side as back-up for Naoto Saito.
The remaining seven changes are all positional with Jones looking to adapt his side for playing conditions in Townsville that are expected to be considerably more favourable than the extreme heat and humidity experienced in Osaka. Lock Harry Hockings moves from the bench into the starting pack as a direct swap with Jack Cornelsen, while Tiennan Costley comes into the team as the starting openside.
In the backs, Waseda University speedster Yoshitaka Yazaki has been named on the right wing in place of Kazuma Ueda who moves to the bench. Utility back Shunsuke Uenobo moves from the bench to inside center, replacing 108kg wrecking ball Samisoni Tua who will inject his considerable physical presence from the reserves bench.
Saturday’s match will be the ninth meeting between the two sides in a history dating back to 1975 when Japan first faced Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. While the Brave Blossoms have never beaten Wallabies, in their last two meetings, Japan fell short by just four points and three points respectively. With a settled side and with fast, dry conditions expected to suit Jones’s vision of chosoku rugby, Japanese fans will be quietly confident that this might be the day for the Brave Blossoms to finally topple the mighty Wallabies.
Commenting ahead of the match, Brave Blossoms Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“We’ve got a really good group of players together at the moment. I am very excited about how they’re developing as a squad, in terms of their cohesion and the chemistry they’re developing. They train well together and have a good time when they’re having a break from training, so there are some really good things happening. We’ve set ourselves the task of really taking it to Australia this weekend. We were very disappointed to lose the last game, so the most important thing now is how we take on this game. We’ve had excellent preparation and I couldn’t ask for any more from the players, so we’re ready to go.”
The match will be broadcast live in Japan from 13:55 JST on WOWOW Live and available for live streaming and catch-up on WOWOW On Demand.
| No. | Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height cm | Weight kg | DOB | Cap |
| 1 | Takato OKABE | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | 180 | 105 | 1995/2/19 | 12 |
| 2 | Hayate ERA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Teikyo Univ. | 172 | 106 | 2001/9/18 | 10 |
| 3 | Shuhei TAKEUCHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ. | 183 | 115 | 1997/12/9 | 27 |
| 4 | Harry HOCKINGS | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Univ. of Queensland | 208 | 124 | 1998/7/28 | 6 |
| 5 | Warner DEARNS (C) | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Ryutsu Keizai Univ. KASHIWA HS. | 201 | 117 | 2002/4/11 | 36 |
| 6 | Ben GUNTER | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Brisbane Boys’ College | 195 | 120 | 1997/10/24 | 21 |
| 7 | Tiennan COSTLEY | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | International Pacific Univ. | 192 | 102 | 2000/6/14 | 15 |
| 8 | Faulua MAKISI | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 187 | 112 | 1997/1/20 | 24 |
| 9 | Naoto SAITO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 165 | 73 | 1997/8/26 | 32 |
| 10 | Ryunosuke ITO | Meiji Univ. | Kokugakuin Univ. Tochigi HS. | 172 | 77 | 2004/11/20 | 4 |
| 11 | Haruto KIDA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Ritsumeikan Univ. | 176 | 90 | 1999/4/9 | 3 |
| 12 | Shunsuke UENOBO | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Tenri Univ. | 183 | 86 | 2003/9/29 | 2 |
| 13 | Dylan RILEY | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Bond Univ. | 187 | 102 | 1997/5/2 | 42 |
| 14 | Yoshitaka YAZAKI | Waseda Univ. | Toin Gakuen HS. | 180 | 86 | 2004/5/12 | 10 |
| 15 | Takuro MATSUNAGA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tenri Univ. | 172 | 82 | 1998/8/13 | 9 |
| 16 | Mamoru HARADA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Keio Univ. | 175 | 101 | 1999/4/15 | 15 |
| 17 | Sojiro OTSUKA | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | Kwansei Gakuin Senior HS. | 178 | 110 | 2004/7/5 | 4 |
| 18 | Izi SWORD | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Takushoku Univ. | 190 | 120 | 2001/6/7 | 1 |
| 19 | Jack CORNELSEN | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Univ. of Queensland | 195 | 110 | 1994/10/13 | 33 |
| 20 | Michael LEITCH | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tokai Univ. | 189 | 113 | 1988/10/7 | 96 |
| 21 | Itsuki KAMIMURA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Teikyo Univ. | 168 | 72 | 2002/12/13 | 2 |
| 22 | Samisoni TUA | URAYASU D-Rocks | Setsunan Univ. | 182 | 108 | 1995/5/24 | 5 |
| 23 | Kazuma UEDA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS |
Kindai Univ. | 177 | 87 | 2002/12/4 | 6 |