Brave Blossoms Set to Face USA in Osaka
Head Coach Eddie Jones has named his Brave Blossoms side to take on the USA this Saturday, September 12 in their Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2026 semi-final at Hanazono Stadium in Higashiosaka. Kicking off at 19:05 local Japan time, the match is the second fixture in a semi-final double-header, with Canada lining up against Fiji in the earlier match from 16:00 JST.
Captained by halfback Naoto Saito, Jones has made several changes to the side that defeated Canada 57-12 last Saturday in Niigata. Four new players come into the matchday 23, with Kazuma Ueda coming into the starting side on the left wing, while loosehead Sena Kimura, halfback Shinobu Fujiwara and utility back Samisoni Tua come onto the reserves bench.
The remaining changes are all positional, with Sojiro Otsuka moving from the bench to start at loosehead prop, Michael Stolberg coming into the second row and Jack Cornelsen shifting from lock to number eight. In the backs, Sam Greene moves from the reserves to start at fullback, while Faulua Makisi moves from number eight to the bench.
Commenting ahead of the match, Brave Blossoms Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“Our focus for this weekend is to be nice and physical, very disciplined and to take the game to the USA. Japan and the USA have always been traditional rivals. We’ve been relatively close in the rankings and faced each other a number of times at the World Cup. In Australia in 2003 Japan played them in their last pool game and again in 2015 in England, so we have a fairly big rivalry. Looking at the history, the wins are pretty evenly shared between the two countries, and we have great respect for them. We’re anticipating a tough game on Saturday and are really looking forward to it.”
Likely to be a sell-out, fans looking to catch the Test match double-header live at the stadium can pick up the last remaining tickets via the JRFU’s English-language ticketing website at: https://quick.pia.jp/japan-rugby_en/.
The Japan v USA match will be broadcast live in Japan from 19:00 on Nippon TV and J SPORTS 4 from 18:35. It will be streamed live and available via catch-up on Hulu from 19:00, J SPORTS On Demand from 18:35 and DAZN from 18:49.
Following the action in Osaka, all four teams will travel north to Tokyo for another double-header, with the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2026 third-place play-off and Final at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium on Saturday, September 19. The two winners from Osaka will face each other in the Final at 19:05 JST, while the other two sides will battle it out for third place from 16:00 JST. Tickets for the Tokyo double-header are also available via the JRFU’s English-language ticketing website.
| No. | Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height cm | Weight kg | DOB | Cap |
| 1 | Sojiro OTSUKA | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | Kwansei Gakuin Senior HS. | 178 | 110 | 2004/7/5 | 6 |
| 2 | Mamoru HARADA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Keio Univ. | 175 | 101 | 1999/4/15 | 17 |
| 3 | Shuhei TAKEUCHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ. | 183 | 120 | 1997/12/9 | 29 |
| 4 | Michael STOLBERG | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Anglican Church Grammar School | 202 | 116 | 1992/3/27 | 4 |
| 5 | Harry HOCKINGS | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Univ. of Queensland | 208 | 124 | 1998/7/28 | 8 |
| 6 | Ben GUNTER | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Brisbane Boys’ College | 195 | 120 | 1997/10/24 | 23 |
| 7 | Kanji SHIMOKAWA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 188 | 105 | 1999/1/17 | 27 |
| 8 | Jack CORNELSEN | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Univ. of Queensland | 195 | 110 | 1994/10/13 | 35 |
| 9 | Naoto SAITO (C) | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 165 | 73 | 1997/8/26 | 34 |
| 10 | Ryunosuke ITO | Meiji Univ. | Kokugakuin Univ. Tochigi HS. | 172 | 77 | 2004/11/20 | 6 |
| 11 | Kazuma UEDA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Kindai Univ. | 177 | 87 | 2002/12/4 | 7 |
| 12 | Yuya HIROSE | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 182 | 94 | 2001/4/7 | 8 |
| 13 | Dylan RILEY | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Bond Univ. | 187 | 102 | 1997/5/2 | 44 |
| 14 | Inoke BURUA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Ryutsu Keizai Univ. | 178 | 100 | 1999/5/30 | 1 |
| 15 | Sam GREENE | JR EAST GREEN WARRIORS TOKATSU | Brisbane Grammar HS. | 178 | 85 | 1994/8/16 | 8 |
| 16 | Kenji SATO | AITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 177 | 108 | 2003/1/4 | 11 |
| 17 | Sena KIMURA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tokai Univ. | 175 | 105 | 1999/6/24 | 3 |
| 18 | Takumi INABA | SHIZUOKA BlueRevs | Kindai Univ. | 175 | 110 | 2002/7/24 | 1 |
| 19 | Esei HAANGANA | URAYASU D-Rocks | St. Paul Catholic H.S. | 198 | 120 | 1999/4/21 | 2 |
| 20 | Tiennan COSTLEY | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | International Pacific Univ. | 192 | 102 | 2000/6/14 | 17 |
| 21 | Faulua MAKISI | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 187 | 112 | 1997/1/20 | 26 |
| 22 | Shinobu FUJIWARA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 171 | 76 | 1999/2/8 | 19 |
| 23 | Samisoni TUA | URAYASU D-Rocks | Setsunan Univ. | 182 | 108 | 1995/5/24 | 6 |
(C) Captain