Japan Brave Blossoms vs Tonga Preview – Pacific Nations Cup 2025 Semifinal

Japan Brave Blossoms face Tonga in the Pacific Nations Cup 2025 semifinal on Saturday, Sunday, 14th, at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Denver. 

Following Japan’s 47–21 win over the USA last weekend, with 6,079 fans in attendance, they now line up against Tonga, who have now qualified for RWC 2027, in the PNC semifinal, with a likely showdown with Fiji in the final if both favourites win their respective semifinal matches in Denver.

Last week for Japan, the try scorers were Kanji Shimokawa, Kippei Ishida, Warner Dearns (2), Amato Fakatava (2) and Ben Gunter – the latter four scored last week, and Fakatava now has four in two games. All of them are selected again for this crucial game.

Kipei Ishida leads the individual rankings for carry metres (294) and line breaks (5) and has scored three tries in the past two games against the USA and Canada.

Seungsin Lee was again excellent off the boot (he was the top scorer in the PNC 2024 too. The JRFU said he “controlled the Brave Blossom’s backline superbly, defending well and kicking six of his seven conversions.

Heading into this weekend,  the Japanese have the best lineout and scrum success of all the PNC sides and the most steals in the competition.

Brave Blossoms captain Warner Dearns, who has two wins under his belt while in charge, in addition to three tries in the past two tests, said, “Our first 20 minutes we defended really well and got a lot of momentum. We want to keep that going on into the next games.

To win the next two games, we need our forwards to front up and have a really good game – I think we showed in the last two games we played against Canada and the US, we did a good job.”

Brave Blossoms Head Coach Eddie Jones has gone for a 6-2 split on the bench and said, “We’ve had good preparation in Denver, lightening the load a little bit earlier in the week as it’s our third game in a row and because of travel. Physically we feel like we’re in a good position.

Looking at the Tongan side, it’s one of their most experienced I’ve seen. They’ve had great preparation with four weeks prep going into the PNC and an extra week in Denver. We know it’s going to be a very tough game and a great Semi Final for our boys to play in.

“We’ve been lucky to have fair consistency in our selection, and there are a number of players who are unlucky not to be selected. The squad is very competitive and that’s been shown by the quality of training over the last couple of days,” added Jones.

‘Ikale Tahi head coach Tevita Tu’ifua said that there has been a high injury toll within camp, ruling out some players and new faces were expected to play Japan. In addition, some players have returned to their clubs for the start of the European season.

The former Tongan captain said, “It has been a tough week for us last week and coming into this new week. We are excited about making it into the World Cup. However, we are challenged to give it our best shot against Japan this weekend. About eight new boys are in the squad now.”

Ben Tameifuna, who missed the game against Fiji, returns for this weekend’s match.

Match Permutations Japan vs Tonga – Pacific Nations Cup 2025 SF

• Neither Fiji nor Japan can improve their current positions this weekend as higher-ranked teams, and will stay in ninth and 13th, respectively, if they win.
• Tonga need to beat Japan by more than 15 points to move ahead of Spain into 15th. They could rise to 14th if they win and if Samoa lose to the USA this weekend by a similar margin of points.

Japan Brave Blossoms Squad vs Tonga– Semifinal PNC 2025

You can see more from the JRFU on the squad announced.

1 Sena Kimura, 2 Hayate Era, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi; 4 Jack Cornelsen, 5 Warner Dearns (captain); 6 Ben Gunter, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 8 Amato Fakatava; 9 Shinobu Fujiwara, 10 Seungsin Lee; 11 Tomoki Osada, 12 Charlie Lawrence, 13 Dylan Riley, 14 Kippei Ishida; 15 Sam Greene

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

Tonga Squad vs Japan – PNC 2025 Semifinal

1 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi, 2 Samiuela Moli, 3 Ben Tameifuna (captain); 4 Veikoso Poloniati, 5 Harison Mataele; 6 Tupou Afungia, 7 Foto Lokotui, 8 Siosiua Moala; 9 Sonatane Takulua, 10 Patrick Pellegrini; 11 John Tapueluelu, 12 Uilisi Halaholo, 13 Fetuli Paea, 14 Nikolai Foliaki; 15 Salesi Piutau

Replacements: 16 Sosefu Sakalia, 17 Tau Koloamatangi, 18 Solomone Tukuafu, 19 Justin Mataele, 20 Tevita Ahokovi, 21 Siaosi Nai, 22 James Faiva, 23 Josiah Unga

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.
• Japan Brave Blossoms vs Canada Preview – Pacific Nations Cup 2025.
• Sakura Fifteen Fail to Reach RWC 2025 Quarterfinals But Put Up Valiant Effort Against the Black Ferns
• Japan XV Add Australia A Fixture To Busy 2025 Calendar.