On Tuesday 15th August 2023, the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) announced 30 of their 33-man squad for Rugby World Cup 2023 with the complete squad announced a few days later.
Feature Photo Credit: JRFU – Head Coach Jamie Joseph announcing the RWC 2023 Squad.
Updated 29 August 2023
Brave Blossoms Head Coach Jamie Joseph told the media at an event in Tokyo: “We’re going into the World Cup to win it. As a tournament, if you can get to the quarter-finals, anything can happen, so our first step is to make the top eight and take things from there.”
The players announced by the JRFU reflect a relatively youthful squad (in terms of experience), with the average number of test caps across the 30 announced players at 21 caps.
Joseph added: “We understand that’s a massive challenge, but the team takes a lot of confidence from what we achieved in 2019, surprising the world by the way we played and how we went through our pool unbeaten. It’s our challenge to do that again in 2023.”
Kazuki Himeno was named as Japan’s captain for the Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.
Photo Credit: JRFU
Who Made The Brave Blossoms RWC 2023 Squad?
The Kiwi-born Japan Men’s XV Head Coach said of the squad: “In selecting the squad we’ve worked around the fact that we can’t replace or take more than 33 players, so we need to make sure all bases are covered. What that looks like in terms of specialist positions, we’re taking nine front rowers, and three specialist nines and tens.
So just under half the squad cover only five positions. In terms of the final selection, it reduces our options, so we’ve selected players who can focus on one position, but also have the ability to play in another one or two positions as well.”
Of the 30 players announced, 13 featured in the RWC 2019 squad, while prop Keita Inagaki and outside-back Kotaro Matsushima were also part of the RWC 2015 squad. Hooker Shota Horie and former captain Michael Leitch are both set to represent Japan at their fourth Rugby World Cup!
Two uncapped players were included in the inital 30-announced group: prop Sione Halasili and scrumhalf Kenta Fukuda.
Who Was On the Fringes of Rugby World Cup 2023 Selection?
Delaying the full naming of the squad meant there were players fighting to be fit from injury {Warner Dearns (shoulder and ankle), Uwe Helu (shoulder) and Amato Fakatava (foot) – according to Kyodo News}, while South African-born Lappies Labuschagne was still in contention although he had been banned for his red card against Fiji which rules him out of the last warm-up game and initial two pool matches at RWC 2023 (Chile and England).
On August 18th 2023, the final four names for the Brave Blossoms RWC 2023 squad were confirmed with James Moore withdrawn from the final squad due to injury:
- Uwe Helu (withdrawn on the 27th of August)
- Pieter “Lappies” Labuschagne
- Warner Dearns
- Amanaki Saumaki
Kanji Shimokawa and Amato Fakatava had been struggling with injuries and didn’t make the final selection cut.
On August 27th the JRFU made further changes. Uwe Helu (only added on the 18th of August) and utility back Shogo Nakano were both withdrawn from the squad, and the two players added to the final squad were:
- Amato Fakatava – second-row and the back-row
- Kanji Shimokawa – back-row forward
Joseph said about the preparation and the impact of cards, “Red and yellow cards will become an increasing feature of the modern game and every week, in every test match, players have to be able to adjust to these moments.”
The final squad places will be announced ahead of the squad announcement deadline of 21 August 2023 (this is what the JRFU reported but it must be an internal deadline as World Rugby allows teams until 28th August 2023 to announce the final squads).
Rugby News Japan also reported that “Jamie Joseph said a number of Japanese players will play for the Barbarians in Europe during RWC 2023 to keep them match-fit should they be called up as a replacement for Brave Blossoms World Cup squad.”
The squad will depart for Italy on August 19th and will face Italy in Treviso on August 26th 2023 for their final preparation match before their pool games at RWC 2023 – opening Pool D against Chile on Sunday, 10 September at Stadium de Toulouse.
RWC 2023 – Japan Brave Blossoms Squad
Brave Blossoms 2023 Forwards
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- Image Credit: JRFU
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- Image Credit: JRFU
Brave Blossoms 2023 Backs
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- Image Credit: JRFU
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- Image Credit: JRFU
This represents the entire 33-man squad for RWC 2023.
- Props: Keita Inagaki (Saitama), Craig Millar (Saitama), Sione Halasili (Yokohama), Jiwon Gu (Kobe), Shinnosuke Kakinaga (Suntory), Asaeli Ai Valu (Saitama)
- Hookers: Shota Horie (Saitama), Atsushi Sakate (Saitama), Kosuke Horikoshi (Suntory)
- Locks: Warner Dearns, Amanaki Saumaki
- Loose forwards: Jack Cornelsen (Saitama), Shota Fukui (Saitama), Kazuki Himeno (Toyota, captain), Michael Leitch (Toshiba), Ben Gunter (Saitama), Pieter “Lappies” Labuschagne, Amato Fakatava, Kanji Shimokawa
- Scrumhalves: Naoto Saito (Suntory), Yutaka Nagare (Suntory), Kenta Fukuda (Toyota)
- Flyhalves: Lee Seung-sin (Kobe), Rikiya Matsuda (Saitama), Jumpei Ogura (Yokohama)
- Wings: Siosaia Fifita (Hanazono), Semisi Masirewa (Hanazono), Jone Naikabula (Toshiba), Lomano Lava Lemeki (NEC)
- Centres: Ryoto Nakamura (Suntory), Tomoki Osada (Saitama), Dylan Riley (Saitama)
- Fullback: Kotaro Matsushima (Suntory)
RWC 2023 News
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- Pedal To Paris – Race To Rugby World Cup 2023.
- Gilbert Unveil iNNOVO Rugby Balls for RWC 2023.
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