Japan coach Jamie Joseph has revealed his 33-man squad for the upcoming June Test matches against Romania and Ireland.
The Brave Blossoms play Romania in Kumamoto on June 10 before taking on Ireland on June 17 and 24 in Shizuoka and Tokyo, respectively, and Joseph said it would be a challenging series of games.
“Romania and Ireland are very different types of teams and couldn’t be more different from Japanese teams,” Joseph told the Japan Times.
“They are big and powerful and in Ireland’s case very experienced. Romania are a set-piece-orientated team that beat Georgia recently. If we take them on on their strengths we will come second. But if we can play a high-tempo fast game in the heat then I am confident we can get some wins.”
Shota Horie and Harumichi Tatekawa co-captain a squad that contains four new caps in Yusuke Niwai, Shota Emi, Derek Carpenter and William Tupou, and sees the return of Michael Leitch and Hendrik Tui following their self-imposed exiles.
“Leitch is one of the best players in his position currently playing and eligible for Japan,” Joseph said. “The criteria for selection was I wanted the best players available to represent Japan. We have a strong squad and now have two weeks to prepare in the heat in Kyushu before the first test.”
Just nine members of the squad are not part of the Sunwolves set-up, though three of the nine — back-row forwards Leitch, Tui and Amanaki Lelei Mafi — are playing Super Rugby for overseas sides.
Japan squad:
Forwards: Shintaro Ishihara, Keita Inagaki, Koki Yamamoto, Takuma Asahara, Heiichiro Ito, Yu Chinen, Yusuke Niwai, Takeshi Hino, Shota Horie, Kyosuke Kajikawa, Uwe Helu, Shinya Makebe, Kotaro Yatabe, Hendrik Tui, Yoshitaka Tokunaga, Shuhei Matasuhashi, Amanaki Lelei Mafi, Michael Leitch
Backs: Keisuke Uchida, Fumiaki Tanaka, Yutaka Nagare, Jumpei Ogura, Yu Tamura, Rikiya Matsuda, Derek Carpenter, Harumichi Tatekawa, William Tupou, Timothy Lafaele, Shota Emi, Kenki Fukuoka, Akihito Yamada, Ryuji Noguchi, Kotaro Matsushima
The post Japan squad announced appeared first on Planet Rugby.