Brave Blossoms Hope To Draw Series Against the French

The Brave Blossoms have announced their squad to take on the French in the second and final test of the series in Japan and will be looking to avenge their 42-23 loss at Toyota Stadium last weekend.

The second test takes place on Saturday, July 9 at the National Stadium in Tokyo and the JRFU confirmed that Japan Head Coach Jamie Joseph’s side will look to “make amends for the lopsided score line in their first test against the current grand slam & Six Nations champions.”

The test match last week was all square at 13 points all by halftime, but the French ran in four tries in the second half and the Brave Blossoms scored a consolation try in the 82^nd minute.

Joseph said, “Last week we were able to play well and put pressure on France, but in the second half we lost a bit of control and started overplaying at times. This week we’ve got to be more balanced and controlled. We won’t look to change how we play but will need to be a little smarter when we have the ball. If we have fast ball, we can gain momentum and create pressure. It’s another big test match for us and we have to plan and prepare accordingly.”

Japan will be captained by hooker Atsushi Sakate, while debutant Takayusa Tsuji is set to earn his first cap after being named on the bench as the reserve second-row. In total, 13 players have less than ten test caps, including Sanaila Waqa in the second-row and front-row reserve Yukio Morikawa, both of whom will earn their second test caps this weekend. (You can see last week’s squad here).

Michael Leitch will play his 75th test for the Brave Blossoms.

The French, on the other hand, has only made one squad change with Max Spring replacing Melvyn Jaminet at fullback to make his debut.

Scotsman Mike Adamson will take charge of Japan for the first time but he has previously officiated France’s victory over Italy in the Six Nations earlier in 2022.

Match Permutations

• If Japan win, they will climb above a beaten Wales into ninth place
• France will climb to number one for the first time since the rankings were introduced in October 2003 if they beat Japan and South Africa and New Zealand both losing by less than 15 points.
• France will surrender their third place to Ireland if they lose by more than 15 points, even if the Irish are beaten by the same margin in Dunedin against NZ.
• The French cannot fall from fourth even with a loss by more than 15 points as neither Australia nor England can overtake them with a win by the same margin.

Image Credit: Tight Five Rugby

Where to watch the Brave Blossoms play?

The JRFU confirmed that internationally, the match will be telecast via TF1 (France), Premier Sports (Asia, Middle East, UK & Ireland), ESPN Sur (South & Central America, Caribbean), Flo Sports (North America) and Super Sports (Sub-Saharan Africa).

• Date: Saturday 9 July 2022 KO 14:50  (local time)
• Venue: Japan National Stadium – Tokyo, Japan

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