Japan name side for historic Springboks match

Eddie Jones has left the funny business behind, and selected a team with only minor surprises for the match against the Springboks on Saturday. After toying with Hendrik Tui on the wing against Georgia, he has moved the loose forward back to no8, choosing the more conventional approach with speedsters Kotaro Matsushima and Akihito Yamada out wide.

Of interest is the absence of Harumichi Tatekawa and Yu Tamura from the starting lineup, with Kosei Ono and Craig Wing selected at flyhalf and inside centre respectively. Tatekawa is on the bench while Tamura is completely absent. The rest of the side appears to be first choice, with Amanaki Mafi among the reserves, still short of match fitness after only just returning from a serious hip injury in time to face the Lelos 10 days ago in Gloucester.

This will be an historic first for the two countries who have never before faced each other in international competition. South Africa are favorites to win Pool B, which also contains Samoa, Scotland, and the USA.

JAPAN
1 Masataka Mikami 2 Shota Horie 3 Kensuke Hatakayema 4 Luke Thompson 5 Hitoshi Ono 6 Michael Leitch (capt.) 7 Michael Broadhurst 8 Hendrik Tui 9 Fumiaki Tanaka 10 Kosei Ono 11 Kotaro Matsushima 12 Craig Wing 13 Male Sa’u 14 Akihito Yamada 15 Ayumu Goromaru

16 Takeshi Kizu 17 Keita Inagaki 18 Hiroshi Yamashita 19 Shinya Makabe 20 Amanaki Mafi 21 Atsushi Hiwasa 22 Harumichi Tatekawa 23 Karne Hesketh