The Japanese Brave Blossoms face Wales in Cardiff at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, 15th November as both sides are desperately seeking a victory to boost confidence and secure a 12 top-ranking before the RWC 2027 draw takes place.
Photo Credit – JRFU
When the two sides met in Japan earlier this year, it ended as a 1-1 draw, but Wales’s win ended their record losing streak. Heading into this key matchup, both sides are coming off losses, and both sides are without key players and leaders for this weekend’s fixture.
Both sides are coming off losses. Wales is ranked 12th in the world, and Japan is ranked 13th. There are only 0.32 World Rugby ranking points separating the two sides, and those above and below them in the rankings are also in action. RWC 2027 bandings are on a knife-edge.
The Welsh are without Jac Morgan after the Welsh captain was ruled out with his shoulder injury sustained in the loss to Argentina last week. Dewi Lake will captain the team against the Brave Blossoms.
Olly Cracknell gets his first international start at No. 8, and Alex Mann starts at openside flank. There is also a return for that Louis Rees-Zammit in the starting XV.
Japan will miss the absence of both Ben Gunter, who proposed to his pregnant partner this week in Japan, and Michael Leitch.
Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones has mostly selected a similar starting XV to take on Wales that faced Ireland.
Keijiro Tamefusa comes into the front row, and the loose forwards see a change due to the absences of Leitch and Gunter. Jack Cornelsen replaces Gunter.
The backline remains unchanged, but the Brave Blossoms bench is very experienced at Test-level rugby. Loosehead prop Sho Furuhata (Saitama Wild Knights), former Australia U20 player and lock Harry Hockings (Tokyo Sungoliath), and winger Kazuma Ueda (Kobe Steelers) are all uncapped and included in a bench which combined has 34 caps. Shuhei Takeuchi contributes 22 of those.
Brave Blossoms Head Coach Eddie Jones said, “This is our fourth game of the November series, and I think each week we’re getting a little bit better. Certainly, our training quality has improved, and I think we’re in a really good spot to play against Wales. It’s our third time to play them this year, so both teams know each other pretty well. They’ve had some personnel changes and a change in coach, but we’re looking forward to play them this weekend at Principality Stadium.
For our young team we’re looking forward to experiencing that environment and experiencing the hostility of the crowd. They’re the games you want to play as a young player. You want to learn to cope in those situations and learn to win in those situations.”
Match Referee Matthew Carley takes charge of the Test.
Match Permutations – Japan vs Wales
- Georgia can not improve their rating with a victory over 24th-ranked Canada.
- Georgia could lose that 11th place if Japan beats Wales by more than 15 points, with the Brave Blossoms jumping two places.
- Wales are unable to catch a victorious Georgia if they win their third meeting with Japan in 2025. Any other outcome will see them drop into Band 3 – but they can not fall lower than 13th
Japan Brave Blossoms Squad vs Wales
See more about the Matchday squad here.
1-Kenta Kobayashi (7 caps) 2-Kenji Sato (7 caps) 3-Keijiro Tamefusa (18 caps) 4-Epineri Uluiviti (9 caps) 5-(c) Warners Dearns (30 caps)6-Jack Cornelsen (27 caps) 7-Kanji Shimokawa (21 caps) 8-Faulua Makisi (22 caps) 9-Naoto Saito (26 caps) 10-Lee Seung Sin (27 caps) 11-Tomoki Osada (24 caps) 12-Charlie Lawrence (7 caps) 13-Dylan Riley (36 caps) 14-Kippei Ishida (8 caps) 15-Yoshitaka Yazaki (8 caps)
Reserves: 16-Shodai Hirao (2 caps) 17-Sho Furuhata (0 caps) 18-Shuhei Takeuchi (22 caps) 19-Harry Hockings (0 caps) 20-Tyler Paul (2 caps) 21-Kenta Fukuda (7 caps) 22-Shinya Komura (1 cap) 23-Kazuma Ueda (0 caps)
Wales Squad vs Japan Brave Blossoms
Nicky Smith (57 caps) 2-(c) Dewi Lake (23 caps) 3-Archie Griffin (9 caps) 4-Dafydd Jenkins (24 caps) 5-Adam Beard (59 caps) 6-Aaron Wainwright (60 caps) 7-Alex Mann (8 caps) 8-Olly Cracknell (1 cap), 9-Tomos Williams (65 caps) 10-Dan Edwards (4 caps) 11-Josh Adams (64 caps) 12-Ben Thomas (15 caps) 13-Max Llewellyn (9 caps) 14-Louis Rees-Zammit (33 caps) 15-Blair Murray (11 caps)
Reserves: 16-Liam Belcher (3 caps) 17-Rhys Carré (21 caps) 18-Keiron Assiratti (16 caps) 19-Freddie Thomas (5 caps) 20-Taine Plumtree (8 caps) 21-Kieran Hardy (26 caps) 22-Jarrod Evans (12 caps) 23-Nick Tompkins (41 caps)
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- Brave Blossoms vs Australia Match Preview.
- JAPAN XV Secure a Comfortable Win and Shows That Hong Kong China Men Have “A Fair Way To Go”.
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