The Japan Sakura XV play Scotland on Saturday, October 5th 2024 at Athlone Sports Stadium in Cape Town in their second WXV2 match, and it might be their toughest of the campaign as the Scots are the highest-ranked team in WXV2 2024.
The intense and nail-biting loss to the hosts in the opening round is a math the Japanese could have won, much like the two close games against the USA at home, and the side has been ruing not finish off their chances and their lack of ruthlessness could be even more costly against the fancies Scottish team who won their opener against Italy 19-0 – a side the Sakura fell to in their final WXV preparation test.
The sides have played each other three times, Japan has one win and Scotland has two, with the result in WXV in 2023 favouring the Scots 38-7. This does not bode well for the Sakura XV as they have not won in the past 5 tests which is the longest winless run in their 33-year history as a test-playing nation.
What will be a concern for the Japanese is the form of Scotland number eight Evie Gallagher, who WXV said “turned in arguably the performance of the round amid Saturday’s downpour in Cape Town, appearing at the top of the charts in several statistics.”
Gallagher secured the most turnovers across all 3 wXV divisions and the Gallagher’s Player of the Match had an astounding 22 carries and completed 17 tackles! Japan lost the ruck battle against SA and were overpowered at times by their direct abrasive running plan and the Scots will probably bring more of the same.
The Sakura had plenty of ball in the loss to SA, but they carried as many as the Wallaroos (149) but were only able to make 148m from them which does not make for front-foot rugby.
Scotland Women’s Head Coach Bryan Easson has made six player changes and one position switch to the side from the first match which include four changes to the pack.
Sakura XV Head Coach Lesley McKenzie has made two changes – with hooker Asuka Kuge coming in for Kotomi Taniguchi, who drops to the bench and in the starting line-up Rinka Matsuda is selected on the right wing in place of Misaki Matsumura. Prop Yuka Sadaka, lock Sakurako Korai and fly-half Minori Yamamoto all are selected in the reserves.
Zoe Naude (South Africa) is the match referee.
Japan’s final match is against Wales on Friday 11 October 2024 –The fixtures and results for WXV2 can be seen here.
Match Permutations – Japan Sakura XV vs Scotland WXV 2 (October 2024)
- Scotland is ranked 5th and the Japan Sakura XV are ranked 12th heading into this test.
- Scotland could drop two places to seventh if they lose to Japan and if Australia beat South Africa in Cape Town – they could drop to 8th if the USA also upset the higher-ranked France.
- Japan could reclaim 11th from SA, if South Africa loses and if Japan beats Scotland.
Japan Squad vs Scotland– WXV2 2024
15. Sora Nishimura, 14. Rinka Matsuda, 13. Mana Furuta, 12. Haruka Hirotsu, 11. Komachi Imakugi, 10. Ayasa Otsuka, 9. Moe Tsukui, 1. Sachiko Kato, 2. Asuka Kuge, 3. Wako Kitano, 4. Yuna Sato, 5. Otoka Yoshimura, 6. Masami Kawamura, 7. Iroha Nagata (captain), 8. Seina Saito.
Replacements: 16. Kotomi Taniguchi, 17. Manami Mine, 18. Yuka Sadaka, 19. Sakurako Korai, 20. Jennifer Nduka, 21. Megumi Abe, 22. Minori Yamamoto, 23. Kanako Kobayashi.
Scotland Squad vs Japan – WXV2 2024
15. Chloe Rollie, 14. Rhona Lloyd, 13. Meryl Smith, 12. Lisa Thomson, 11. Francesca McGhie, 10. Helen Nelson, 9. Caity Mattinson, 1. Leah Bartlett, 2. Lana Skeldon, 3. Christine Belisle, 4. Louise McMillan, 5. Sarah Bonar, 6. Rachel Malcolm (captain), 7. Alex Stewart, 8. Jade Konkel.
Replacements: 16. Elis Martin, 17. Anne Young, 18. Lisa Cockburn, 19. Eva Donaldson, 20. Evie Gallagher, 21. Leia Brebner-Holden, 22. Emma Orr, 23. Lucia Scott.
You can see more on the Scotland team announcement here.
How To Watch WXV 2024
The WXV2 2024 will be available to watch on RugbyPass TV or your local broadcaster which be found on the fixtures page of the WXV website.
WXV Rugby News 2024
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