Japan Brave Blossoms & Japan XV Training Squads for Remainder of 2025 Announced

rugbyasia247 Posted On October 7, 2025

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Japan Brave Blossoms & Japan XV Training Squads for Remainder of 2025 Announced

The Brave Blossoms are preparing for a tough run of Autumn test matches against Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Wales and Georgia, while the Japan XV squad will host Australia A and play Hong Kong China – the training squads for both have been announced by the JRFU.

Feature Photo Credit – JRFU

Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones confirmed his 40-member Japan national team training squad for the five Test matches and included eight players as a supplementary JAPAN XV Training Squad to provide extra cover for the two non-capped matches.

In total, the squad comprises 21 forwards and 19 backs, and the JRFU said the selection sticks “firmly to his mission of ushering through Japan’s next generation of test stars, 18 of the already capped players hold just 10 caps or less. They in turn, are joined by eight uncapped players who will be looking to stake their claim for higher National Team honours.”

The squad sees the return of Michael Leitch after he sat out the Pacific Nations Cup, in which the Brave Blossoms were runner-up. Eddie Jones is set to name his captain ahead of the Wallabies test on October 25 in Tokyo, wth Warner Dearns having captained the side.

Photo Credit – JRFU – Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones

Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones said, “I’m pleased to name this training squad ahead of what is probably the most ambitious tour Japan has ever been on. It will be a fantastic experience for this young team to play against Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Wales and Georgia.”

The squad selected comprises players from the Pacific Nations Cup, with the return of certain players. New potential debutants are: Taishi TSUMURA, Shodai HIRAO, Sanshiro KIHARA, Tyler PAUL*, Harry HOCKINGS**, David VAN ZEELAND***, Shinya KOMURA, Kazuma UEDA.

** Tyler Paul can cover the second row or the loose forwards and plays at URAYASU D-Rocks. He is a former Eastern Province, Southern Kings, and Sharks player from South Africa.
*Harry Hockings (from Tokyo Sungoliath) is a lock from Australia who went to Japan in 2020 and is now eligible to represent Japan on residency grounds. He has represented the Reds, Australia Schoolboys and U20s.
***David Van Zeeland is an Australian-born player who competes at Kubota Spears.

Toulouse-based scrumhalf Naoto Saitō has not been named.

The 8 selected players for the Japan XV are: Sho FURUHATA, Shoma SAGAWA, Yuta KOKAJI, Shu YAMAMOTO, Rikuto NAKAYA, Asahi DOEI, Yuto MORI, Kotaro ITO, Shinya KOMURA

The 8 selected players for the Japan XV 2025

JRFU Men’s Training Camp

The squads will be in separate training camps (backs and forwards) on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu from Monday, October 6. The forwards will be in Beppu City, Oita, until Thursday, October 9, and join the backs in Miyazaki.

The additional eight players in the JAPAN XV Training Squad will join the main squad in Miyazaki from Sunday, October 12.

Of the training camps, Jones added, “The training camps are going to be pretty important. We’ve tried to keep the squad fairly consistent from the PNC, albeit with a few injuries and a few new players who have become available to enable us to increase our depth, particularly in the lock area, where we’ve been skinny in terms of depth.

We will have separate forwards and backs camps first to put down the basis of our game and then we will come together to get ourselves right to give this tour everything we’ve got. We want to compete for every play on tour, compete for every ball and take every team to the depth of a situation where we can win the game,” added Jones.