Brave Blossoms Kick Off 2024 International Test Season Against England With An Inexperienced Side

Eddie Jones, in his first test match in his second stint at the helm of the Japanse Brave Blossoms, announced a 35-man training squad to prepare the team for an English side who are in Tokyo for a one-off test on 22nd June at the National Stadium before they tour New Zealand. The final matchday squad features 8 debutants with Michael Leitch as captain.

The Japanese take on England at home as part of the Lipotivan D Challenge Cup 2024 and this will be the first official test match played between the two nations in Japan and the 5th match overall with the Japanese yet to beat England.

The initial training squad selected by Eddie Jones included 21 forwards and 14 backs for the camp in Miyazaki and 12 potential test debutants (there have been several updates as listed by the JRFU) and a bulk of the squad (32) play in the Japan Rugby League One.

Prop Tsubasa Moriyama from Teikyo University and hooker Kenji Sato from Waseda University were selected from their respective university teams, while three university players were attached to the squad as training members; lock Takuma Motohashi from Teikyo University, centre Yuta Akihama from Meiji University and outside-back Yoshitaka Yazaki from Waseda University as Jones begins to build a squad for Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia.

Among the Japanese coach selections are former All Black Owen Franks and former Springbok Victor Matfield as Technical Advisor. The Japan Rugby Football Union also announced the appointment of Yoji Nagatomo as Team Director and Toshiaki Hirose as Assistant Team Director of the Japan Men’s National Team. Neal Hatley joins the team as Coaching Coordinator and David Kidwell and Dan Bowden as Assistant Coaches.

It was also confirmed that former Kenya 7s and Kenya 15s international Patrice Agunda is working in Japan on a one-month exchange program and is involved in Japan’s national team training camp & Under-20s camp as a skills coach.

Eddie Jones said, “Post 2023, there was always going to be a need to rebuild the team, so we’ve started that process today. From here on in, we’re building towards the World Cup in 2027 and this group of players have the first opportunity to do Japan proud. As I’ve spoken about before, we have the need to play in a different style, a Japanese style of play we call Choushoku or super-fast rugby. We’ll be looking to implement that from day one. It will be challenging, but we want to see the first signs of it against England.”

England’s Head Coach, Steve Borthwick, famously was Eddie Jones’s assistant with both the Japan and England national teams and he led his side to third in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations 2024 after three wins and two defeats.

Luc Ramos (France) will referee Japan and England for the first time.

Following this match, Japan XV face the visiting Maori All Blacks twice before the national team plays Georgia and Italy in July 2024.

Match Permutations –  Japan vs England

• England cannot improve on fifth place in the World Rugby rankings if they beat Japan in Tokyo.
• Japan will stay in 12th if they lose by more than 15 points to England, however, a first-test victory over England will move the Brave Blossoms above Fiji in the rankings if the margin is more than 15 points.

Japan Brave Blossoms Men’s XV Squad vs England – June 2024

In the build-up to the tests in 2024, Jones has talked about the challenge of encouraging young Japanese players and the support required within a high-performance environment and he has selected a young team to open the test campaign against an experienced English side.

Eddie Jones announced his squad to face England on June 20th and confirmed the return of Michael Leitch as captain of the Brave Blossoms. The 35-year-old will captain Japan for the 37th time in his 85th test.

The side features 4 uncapped players in the starting lineup but there are 8 in the match-day squad so it is an inexperienced side, especially in the pack.

The starting tight five have only 16 caps between them, with prop Takayoshi Mohara, and hooker Mamoru Harada making their debuts. England’s Dan Cole has more than 100 caps alone so it will be a tough contest up front for the Japanese.

Starting at fullback is Yoshitaka Yazaki who also runs on for his debut. The 20-year-old player is from Waseda University.

The uncapped players on the bench are forwards Keijiro Tamefusa and Kai Yamamoto and backs Shinobu Fujiwara and Samisoni Tua.

England Men’s XV Squad – vs Japan 2024 – June 2024

Chandler Cunningham-South makes his first test start for England after four appearances off the bench and he is one of five changes to the starting line-up from the 33-31 defeat to France in the final round of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations in March, 2024.

Marcus Smith starts at fly-half and will partner Alex Mitchell at half-back. George Ford is not involved in the tour to Japan and New Zealand.

How To Watch Brave Blossoms vs England

The test match on June 22 will be available on RugbyPassTV.

Asian International Rugby

• JRFU Fixtures 2024 – Brave Blossoms, Japan XV, Sakura XV.
• Japan Sakura XV Tour To Fiji In June 2024.
• Fans Guide To Asia Rugby Men’s Championship 2024.
• World Rugby Sevens Repechage 2024 – Monaco.