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Eddie Jones has freshened up his side with six changes to the starting side that stunned the world with a victory over the Springboks on Saturday. Despite the changes, the side has not lost any strength and if anything is perhaps a bit stronger.
Rotation in the tight five sees Keita Inagaki and Hiroshi Yamashita swapped in at prop, while lineout specialist Justin Ives enters the second row at the expense of Hitoshi Ono. An impressive second half performance from Amanaki Mafi has proved his fitness, with the explosive runner replacing Hendrik Tui at the back of the scrum.
Yu Tamura comes into the midfield, with Harumichi Tatekawa moved one spot in to replace Kosei Ono at flyhalf. The blazing speed of Kenki Fukuoka lines up on the left wing, with Kotaro Matsushima moved to the right and Akihito Yamada dropping out.
The reserves bench features a 6-2 split of forwards and backs, with Shoji Ito added to offer a full compliment of tight five replacements. Scrumhalf Atsushi Hiwasa and versatile centre or wing Karne Hesketh are the back replacements.
JAPAN
1 Keita Inagaki 2 Shota Horie 3 Hiroshi Yamashita 4 Luke Thompson 5 Justin Ives 6 Michael Leitch (capt.) 7 Michael Broadhurst 8 Amanaki Mafi 9 Fumiaki Tanaka 10 Harumichi Tatekawa 11 Kenki Fukuoka 12 Yu Tamura 13 Male Sa’u 14 Kotaro Matsushima 15 Ayumu Goromaru
16 Takeshi Kizu 17 Masataka Mikami 18 Kensuke Hatakeyama 19 Shinya Makabe 20 Shoji Ito 21 Hendrik Tui 22 Atsushi Hiwasa 23 Karne Hesketh
