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Japan faces eligibility and injury issues as squad named for Pacific Nations Cup

Sunwolves flanker Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco was first named in the midfield for his side's clash with the Hurricanes. (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

Coach Jamie Joseph has whittled down his 42-man World Cup training squad to 31 for the upcoming Pacific Nations Cup. A number of the cuts, however, were forced due to the unavailability of various players.

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Australian-born Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco, a Sunwolves fan favourite, will not meet World Rugby’s eligibility requirements for Japan by the time the World Cup rolls around in September so has naturally been dropped from the squad.

Warren-Vosayaco, who primarily operates in the loose forwards, was sometimes selected in the midfield during the Super Rugby season. His ability to cover five different positions off the bench would have been invaluable for the Brave Blossoms throughout the year.

Warren-Vosayaco isn’t the first player that Japan might have expected to have available to be ruled out recently due to not meeting eligibility requirements. 21-year-old Ben Gunter, also born in Australia, was ruled ineligible last month. Gunter also plays in the loose forwards and notched 11 caps for the Sunwolves this year.

To add to Joseph’s loose-forward woes, Grant Hattingh has been ruled out of the World Cup due to a groin injury. Johanessburg-born Hattingh was expected to debut for Japan during the Pacific Nations Cup.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz9qIf7Bb17/

Still, even with a number of players unavailable, the loose forwards are shaping up as one the Brave Blossoms’ strengths.

Hendrik Tui, Amanaki Lelei Mafi and captain Michael Leitch have ample experience at all levels of the game whilst well-travelled Super Rugby player Pieter Labuschagne has now met the requirements to suit up too. They will be joined by Yoshitaka Tokunaga and Shunsuke Nunomaki and Kazuki Himeno who all have fewer than 10 caps for the national side.

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Leitch has not played a match in over six months and is still only a ‘maybe’ to suit up in the PNC.

The other injury-hit area of the squad is in the front row.

Keita Inagaki (25 caps), Yusuke Kizu (0), Shogo Mura (5) and Asaeli Ai Value (5) are the only props selected in the squad. Jiwon Koo, Masataka Mikami, Hiroshi Yamashita and Koki Yamamoto were all named in the initial training squad but have been scratched due to injury.

Joseph will be hoping that no further injuries hit his team before the Pacific Nations Cup kicks off next weekend. Of course, the real prize is the World Cup later in the year, but there’s plenty of water to go under the bridge between now and then.

Japan squad for Pacific Nations Cup

Prop – Keita Inagaki (25 caps), Yusuke Kizu (0), Shogo Miura (5), Asaeli Ai Valu (5)

Hooker – Atsushi Sakate (13), Shota Horie (58), Kosuke Horikoshi (2)

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Lock – Luke Thompson (64), Wimpie van der Walt (9), Uwe Helu (11), James Moore (0)

Loose forward – Hendrik Tui (43), Yoshitaka Tokunaga (10), Shunsuke Nunomaki (7), Michael Leitch (59), Pieter Labuschagne (0), Kazuki Himeno (9), Amanaki Lelei Mafi (22)

Halfback – Kaito Shigeno (7), Fumiaki Tanaka (69), Yutaka Nagare (15)

First Five – Yu Tamura (54), Rikiya Matsuda (16)

Midfield – William Tupou (6), Ryoto Nakamura (16), Timothy Lafaele (14)

Outside Back – Kenki Fukuoka (30), Ataata Moeakiola (3), Lomano Lava Lemeki (8), Kotaro Matsushima (30), Ryohei Yamanaka (12)

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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