Japan Brave Blossoms vs Canada Preview – Pacific Nations Cup 2025

Japan host Canada on August 30th in Pool B of the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup (PNC) 2025 at the Yurtec Stadium in Sendai, and the visitors come into the match on the back of a win over the USA in the opening round, chasing RWC 2027 qualification.

Photo Credit – World Rugby – Japan vs Canada PNC 2024

This year’s tournament sees matches in Suva, Fiji, and Sendai, Japan, on its second weekend, before Rotoroa, New Zealand, and Sacramento, California, for the third and final pool weekend. Based on the results, all teams will travel to Denver, Colorado, for the semi-finals, with the finals weekend on 21 September in Salt Lake City

With Rugby World Cup 2027 qualification at stake, Canada, Tonga, Samoa and USA have additional motivation to do well, while Japan and Fiji have already qualified for RWC 2027 in Australia.

In last year’s PNC match between the two sides, Japan beat Canada in Vancouver 55-28, and that win was the first in the second era of Jones as head coach of the Brave Blossoms. In the head-to-head, Japan leads 16-8 with two draws and the Brave Blossoms have not lost in their previous nine matches against Canada.

Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones named the training squad on 14th August, but the squad has already seen several changes. The most notable omission for the PNC for Japan is talisman Michael Leitch due to personal reasons.

Eddie Jones said of the tournament, “We’re looking forward to the PNC. It’s a good competition for us, playing against Canada and the USA, then what follows in terms of the Semi-Final and the Final, which is what we’re aiming for.

He added, “Last year we were runners-up, and this year our target is to go one better. We’ve picked a strong squad, considering we have 11 players unavailable through injury or personal circumstances. We feel confident we have a squad that’s going to make Japan proud.”

Identifying new leaders is one of the core aims of this campaign for Jones, and there are still experienced heads in the squad, but also plenty with little to no Test experience. Jones has selected ten changes to this weekend’s side that last played and lost to Wales 22-31 on July 12th, and 8 selected players have fewer than 10 caps for the Brave Blossoms.

Some selections were enforced through injuries, with nearly a dozen first-choice players unavailable. 

Former USA Men’s Head Coach, South African Gary Gold, is now part of the Japanese coaching setup, and captaining the team is Warner Dearns, who is one of two co-captains for the 2025 PNC tournament. Hooker Mamoru Harada is the other VC, but he was deemed not fit to play this weekend. Dearns will become the youngest-ever Men’s captain.

Experience comes from centre Dylan Riley, Warner Dearns and back-rower Ben Gunter, while Seungsin Lee steadies the ship at fly-half. Newly-capped Sam Greene is earning his second cap, starting at fullback.

Eddie Jones said, “It’s an important game, the first in a competition that we’re aiming to win. Canada’s number 10, Nelson has got a very educated left boot so they will be looking to kick a fair bit. We will have to deal with their high balls and then use that as an opportunity to attack.

It will be a great occasion for Warner as Captain. What he’s done over the last week and a half has been very good. Our Co-Captain Harada is unfortunately not fit to play, but he’s been really influential off the field. It’s been a good start for the two of them for what is an enormous honour to captain Japan.”

The Japanese front row is especially light in caps, with the starting front row only totalling a combined 17 Test caps, and two of the front-row reserves are set to make their debut: Kenji Sato & Kenta Kobayashi.

There are four Test debutants in the squad; former Hamilton Boys’ High and current Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars player Charlie Lawrence starts at inside centre, and among the reserves is Yuya Hirose from Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay.

Photo Credit – World Rugby – Canada beat USA in their PNC 2025 opener

For Canada, they will be without the likes of No. 8 Tyler Ardron, as he has been recalled to his Top 14 club side Castres – he entered the record books when he became the first Canadian international since 2000 to score four tries in a Test match in the win over rivals the USA last week.

Canada Head Coach Stephen Meehan said, “The players delivered just about everything we asked of them against the United States, and we were proud to secure a significant win on home soil. Japan is a quality side, and we look forward to that challenge. The team has shown real effort and commitment in training in a competitive environment – a clear sign of the depth we’re building. Now it’s about execution against another higher-ranked opponent.”

While Canada hunts down a single bonus point, which should secure them a place at RWC Australia 2027, Eddie Jones has said they want to go one better than the runner-up spot they finished in last year and win the PNC.

Paul Williams (New Zealand) is the match referee.

Match Permutations Japan  vs Canada – Pacific Nations Cup 2025

• The Canadians are currently ranked 24th, and Japan are ranked 13th. 
• A win for Canada will see them rise above both Belgium and Hong Kong China and into 22nd place.
• Japan cannot improve their rating if they win.

Japan Brave Blossoms Squad vs Canada – PNC 2025

You can see more from the JRFU on the official squad selection here.

1 Sena Kimura, 2 Hayate Era, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi; 4 Waisake Raratubua, 5 Warner Dearns; 6 Ben Gunter, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 8 Amato Fakatava; 9 Shinobu Fujiwara, 10 Seungsin Lee; 11 Malo Tuitama, 12 Charlie Lawrence, 13 Dylan Riley, 14 Kippei Ishida; 15 Sam Greene

Replacements:  16 Kenji Sato, 17 Kenta Kobayashi, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Tiennan Costley, 20 Faulua Makisi, 21 Kenta Fukuda, 22 Yuya Hirose, 23 Tomoki Osada

Image Credit – All Things Rugby

Canada Squad vs Japan – PNC 2025

You can see more from the Canada Rugby on the official squad selection here.

1 Calixto Martinez, 2 Dewald Kotze, 3 Cole Keith; 4 Piers Von Dadelszen, 5 Mason Flesch; 6 Siôn Parry, 7 Lucas Rumball 8  Matthew Oworu; 9 Jason Higgins, 10 Peter Nelson; 11 Nic Benn, 12 Spencer Jones, 13  Ben LeSage 14 Josiah Morra; 15. Shane O’Leary

Replacements:  16 Jesse Mackail, 17 Emerson Prior, 18 Conor Young, 19 Callum Botchar, 20 Matt Heaton, 21 Stephen Webb, 22 Noah Flesch, 23 Brenden Black

Image Credit – All Things Rugby

How To Watch the Pacific Nations Cup 2025

All 11 matches of the PNC 2025 will be available to watch either through RugbyPass TV or via broadcast partners in certain markets.

International Rugby Tests 2025

• Pacific Nations Cup 2025 Details Announced.
• Defending World Champions Black Ferns Up Next for Sakura Fifteen at RWC 2025.
• Japan Sakura 15 vs Ireland Preview – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.
• Japan XV Add Australia A Fixture To Busy 2025 Calendar.