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The Brave Blossoms host Australia on Saturday, 25th October at the National Stadium in Tokyo, with the visitors taking selection gambles, while the hosts blood yet another player this season.
Currently, Australia are ranked 7th and Japan are 13th with rankings being keenly followed over the next month before the RWC 2027 draw takes place in early December. The two sides have faced each other six times, with the Japanese yet to record a win, but the game has extra spice as Edde Jones is set to face his former employers for the first time since he left the role (for the second time) and recorded just two wins from nine tests.
The two teams running out will be very different to the last time they played in 2021, when the Wallabies were 32-23 Japan victors at the Showa Denco Dome.
Jones said there was a winning opportunity this weekend. "When you're playing a team that has got a lot of players that are playing for a spot and they want to be the starting guys, if things don't go their way at the start of the game, they can get frustrated. Our job is to bring out that frustration. Our job is to be at them the whole time."
Warner Dearns continues to captain the Brave Blossoms side, as he did during the Pacific Nations Cup 2025, even with the return of Michael Leitch (earning his 90th cap) to the starting team. Both Seungsin Lee (25th cap) and Dylan Riley, who have been in excellent form, are vice-captains.
Lee racked up 61 points in the PNC 2025, to end up the tournament’s leading points scorer for the second year in a row and was incredibly accurate with the boot.
In total, Japan's Head Coach, who has tinkered with the team for most of the season, has made six changes to his starting side that lost the PNC final to Fiji 33-27. There is also the return of Ben Gunter at blindside flanker who was in excellent form before picking up an injury in the PNC semifinal.
There are four Australian-raised players in the Japanese match-day squad: Gunter, centre Dylan Riley, second row Jack Cornelsen and outside back Sam Greene, who made his debut for Japan this year.
Among the exciting backs are Yoshitaka Yazaki from Waseda University, who scored for JAPAN XV vs Australia A, is in the starting 15 on Saturday, and Kippei Ishida on the right wing. Tyler Paul, who was also involved in the Australia A match, will make his Brave Blossoms debut off the bench.
The biggest representation of Japan Rugby League One clubs is from Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights and Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath, with five players each, in the matchday 23.
Nick Champion de Crespigny, in just his third test, will become the 92nd captain of Australia as Head Coach Joe Schmidt made 13 changes from the team that ran out in the second Bledisloe Cup match against New Zealand. Schmidt said of the selection, “I think Nick is very much a leader by actions, and he’ll want to be in the thick of the action as much as he can be.”
Backs Jake Gordon and Tane Edmed are the only two who are in the starting XV who were in their previous test, while those absent include Allan Alaalatoa, Taniela Tupou, Fraser McReight, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Max Jorgensen. Four others were not available due to club commitments in Europe: Len Ikitau, Tom Hooper, Will Skelton and James O’Connor. There are also no James Slipper and Nick White, who have both retired.
Schmidt said, “There’s definitely a risk. I guess part of the job as a coaching staff is to manage risk as best we can. If we don’t give opportunity to the squad, then I think we start to lose that energy at the end of a five-Test window, particularly when you’re travelling such long distances and time zones, fatigue becomes pretty apparent within two to three weeks, let alone five weeks, let alone on the back of the ten Tests we’ve had already.
“We have massive respect for Japan. They have come very close to beating teams and have beaten big teams, bigger teams than us in the past, so we’re very conscious of that, and that’s going to be a challenge for the players who are selected.”
Josh Canham and Hamish Stewart are selected as replacement lock and playmaker, respectively - both played against the JAPAN XV last week. Aidan Ross could earn his first cap and is among the replacements. Half of the 8 replacements have two caps or fewer.
Returning to the squad are Rob Valetini, Andrew Kellaway and Dylan Pietsch, while Hamish Stewart is providing cover at fly-half and inside centre off the bench. In the midfield, Hunter Paisami and Josh Flook will pair up and face a dangerous Japanese combination of Dylan Riley and Shogo Nakano.
The Australians have played ten Tests in 2025 - against Fiji, the British & Irish Lions and in The Rugby Championship. They conceded the joint-fewest tries in The Rugby Championship and carried the ball more than any other team.
Their set piece has been solid too, and they lost just one of the 68 scrums they’ve had on their feed. They do come into this fixture on the back of three consecutive losses, though.
Of the threat Japan posed, the Australian Head Coach added, “The players have acclimatised well here in Tokyo and the whole squad is conscious of the threat the Brave Blossoms pose. They play hard and fast and are very tough to beat, especially at home.”
