World Rugby U20 Championship Japan vs France Preview

The JRFU have announced the U20 Japanese team to take on France on Saturday 24th June in their opener in Pool A at the World Rugby U20 Championship 2023. The fixture will also be significant as Hollie Davidson will become the first female to referee at the World Rugby U20 Championship. 

Feature Photo – Captains Lenni Nouchi (France) and Yoshiki Omachi (Japan) come together ahead of their opening day meeting at the World Rugby U20 Championship 2023. Thinus Maritz / @ Gallo Pictures for World Rugby.

The Japanese go up against the two-time defending champions and top-seeded French in their first of two tournament matches at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The two sides have met four teams and the French have been victorious in all previous matches at U20s.

Japan has actually come up against the French in three of their five World Rugby U20 Championship appearances and an added hoodoo is that the Japanese are yet to win a pool match at all – their last win in the tournament was against Samoa 29-12 in 2015.

Japan U20 Coach Rob Penney confirmed the selection of Yoshiki Omachi from Teikyo University at inside centre as captain – he had two starts against Fiji Warriors and Manuma Samoa at the World Rugby Pacific Challenge in the same position. The JRFU said they think will be able to “impose their brand of fast-paced, attacking rugby with strong interplay between their forwards and backs as they look to mitigate the large and physical French pack.”

Japan’s match-day 23 has one notable absentee as their Pacific Challenge 2023 top try scorer Kota Nagashima is not included.

Photo Credit: JRFU – Japan U20 Rugby Captain Yoshiki Omachi

France, as hot favourites for this encounter, go into this tournament with another talented 9-10 axis – which has been their hallmark in recent successes in the tournament. Clermont regular starter at scrum-half Baptiste Jauneau had a breakthrough season in the Top 14, making 13 first-team appearances. At fly-half is 19-year-old Hugo Reus, who kicked 16 points on his first start for double European champions La Rochelle in April 2023.

France coach Sébastien Calvet said, “Our team was built during the last tournament. You can feel this solidarity between the players, this desire to fight for each other. That’s great. Everyone’s excited about diving into the deep end this Saturday.”

Of the challenge of playing Japan, Calvet added: “We’ve been able to analyse four of their last games. They play a lot. Our aim will be to kill them off quickly with aggressive defending. Above all, we must not let them play their game, at the risk of making mistakes and getting into trouble. We’ve noticed that they score a lot of tries from penalties played quickly by hand. This shows their intelligence. We must not look down on them.”

Japan U20 Match Schedule – U20 World Championship 2023

Japan will face Wales at the same venue on 29th June before playing at nearby Paarl in their final pool game against New Zealand on July 4 2023.

You can also find the World Rugby U20 Championship 2023 participating teams and pools here but Japan U20 fixtures at the U20 World Championships are:

• Matchday 1: Saturday 24 June – Pool Matches (Japan vs France – Pool A)
• Matchday 2: Thursday 29 June – Pool Matches (Japan vs Wales – Pool A)
• Matchday 3: Tuesday 4 July – Pool Matches (Japan vs New Zealand – Pool A)

Japan U20 Squad – vs France 24th June 2023

1 Hampei NISHINO
2 Takashi OMOTO
3 Riku TOMITA
4 Yuzuki SASAKI
5 Harry WILLARD
6 Koki MIYASHITA
7 Keito HAYASHI
8 Tenta KOBAYASHI
9 Asahi DOEI
10 Kanjiro NARAMOTO
11 Yoshitaka YAZAKI
12 Yoshiki Yoshiki OMACHI (Captain)
13 Kengo NONAKA
14 Renji OIKE
15 Kosho MUTO
16 Sena HWANG
17 Tomoki YUMBE
18 Kosuke SUGIURA
19 Ryotaro NOSE
20 Tomoki KUSUDA
21 Yutaro TAKAHASHI
22 Genki IKUTA
23 Ryohei IMANO

France U20 Squad – vs Japan 24th June 2023

Image Credit: FFR

How To Watch the World Rugby U20 Championship 2023

World Rugby has confirmed that matches will be broadcast via its online platforms in countries without a local broadcast partner.

Asian Rugby Tournament News 2023

• World Rugby U20 Championship 2023 – Complete Guide.
• Japan World Rugby U20 Championship 2023 Squad.
• Hong Kong China Select World Rugby U20 Trophy 2023 Squad.
• Asian Rugby Championship Division 1 2023.