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Wednesday
02:05
Pacific Nations Cup

One significant change for Japan for USA challenge

By Jon Newcombe
Japan's Takuya Yamasawa (top) gets up over New Zealand's Finlay Christie after scoring a try during the rugby union Test match between Japan and New Zealands All Blacks at the National Stadium in Tokyo on October 29, 2022. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP) (Photo by RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images)

Japan head coach Eddie Jones has turned to Takuya Yamasawa at full-back after naming an otherwise unchanged starting XV for the visit of USA this weekend.

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Yamasawa wins his 10th cap for the Brave Blossoms after replacing teenage sensation, Yoshitaka Yazaki, in the No.15 jersey. Yazaki, as revealed earlier this week on RugbyPass, has returned to Waseda University’s rugby programme.

The only other change to the matchday 23 from the round one win over Canada comes on the bench, where Amato Fakatava has been named as a replacement lock in place of Eishin Kuwano.

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Walk the Talk with Eddie Jones – Trailer | RPTV

Eddie Jones reflects on his career, rugby’s growth in Japan, coaching England and Australia, South African rugby and much more. Full episode coming Tuesday 18 June on RPTV

Coming soon

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Walk the Talk with Eddie Jones – Trailer | RPTV

Eddie Jones reflects on his career, rugby’s growth in Japan, coaching England and Australia, South African rugby and much more. Full episode coming Tuesday 18 June on RPTV

Coming soon

Fakatava, 29, hasn’t featured for the Brave Blossoms since the 39-27 defeat to Argentina at Rugby World Cup 2023, when he scored his fifth test try in just seven caps.

Japan:
1. Shogo Miura
2. Atsushi Sakate
3. Keijiro Tamefusa
4. Sanaila Waqa
5. Warner Dearns
6. Tiennan Costley
7. Kanji Shimokawa
8. Faulua Makisi
9. Shinobu Fujiwara
10. Seungsin Lee
11. Malo Tuitama
12. Nicholas McCurran
13. Dylan Riley
14. Jone Naikabula
15. Takuya Yamasawa

Replacements:
16. Mamoru Harada
17. Takayoshi Mohara
18. Shuhei Takeuchi
19. Amato Fakatawa
20. Isaiah Mapusua
21. Taiki Koyama
22. Harumichi Tatekawa
23. Tomoki Osada

Related

Why Japan's 19-year-old fullback sensation has been pulled from national duty

Yazaki, the youngest member of the team at 19 years old, is a sophomore at Waseda University and has been standing out with his running skills and speed since his days at Toin Gakuen High School.

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The Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup is in full swing - catch every match live on RugbyPass TV or via your local broadcaster! Watch here

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Comments on RugbyPass

H
Hellhound 10 minutes ago
'With near-religious conviction, how good does it feel to be a Bok fan?'

Nope. The Boks vs AB's rivalry is over 100 years old. Ireland's rivalry is a baby compared to it. This rivalry barely started. Give it another 90 years, with the Irish continuesly a big threat. Until then, the Irish is just coat tail riders trying to make money from a non existent rivalry.

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H
Hellhound 27 minutes ago
'With near-religious conviction, how good does it feel to be a Bok fan?'

Spectacular fail at whatever point you were trying to make. The Boks currently is unbeatable, using 2 different teams, 3 different times during this RC. How many teams can claim that? Now because nothing the haters say matters as everyone sees their willful hate speech for what it is, you try to pop in the political scene of SA as some reason that makes no sense at all. The political situation in SA is highly volatile, the country's crime rate is through the roof and it's not a safe country, no matter how beautiful it is. Which just makes what the SPRINGBOKS did, and is still doing that much more AMAZING. For such a broken country to bring forth such talent and for such racist people (just not true) to work together to go back to back WC champs, nevermind all the other current achievements, they seem to be united in passion and love for the sport that no other country possess. Who are you to try and minimise what other people go through? To make lite of our hardships? Our struggles? What a small excuse of a cockroach you are. You should be ashamed

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T
Toaster 38 minutes ago
How the All Blacks were caught up after 'golden decade'

He’s 106kg

Needs to stack some weight on

306 Go to comments
T
Toaster 49 minutes ago
Bundee Aki sends new reminder to All Blacks he's the one that got away

Great player but no real sob story about him leaving

He was up against Nonu Smith and SBW


He was a good player then but Ireland have made him a great player

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V
Vlad 55 minutes ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

Bullshit. You made a factually incorrect statement and then contradicted yourself. Instead of manning up you twist yourself into indefensible and illogical statements because your inferiority complex is so gargantuan that you cannot bear the thought that some anonymous person on the internet got the better of you.


You're a very sad little man.

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V
Vlad 1 hour ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

"The RWC is a joke"

"The arrogant boasting of the two teams in question just emphasizes the clown show."


But you'd trade the #1 ranking for a RWC title...


That's my explanation. It's sad that you cannot understand it. But, then again, you are a low IQ moron.


To reiterate: Not just an idiot, but a clown too.

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Terry24 1 hour ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

I made a statement which holds through for this argument. Th exception proves the rule. You are too much of a moron to be able to differentiate between general and trivial. Are you from SA? I know they are not all as dumb as you there.

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Terry24 1 hour ago
Why coach was ‘worried’ about Black Ferns’ heartfelt hug with King Charles

They should have thrown him a rugby ball, tackled him, declared him 'wrong side of the ruck' and studded the f**k out of him, 90s style, until his bodyguards broke it up.


NZ needs to stop this love affair with a monarchy. Having a European 'King of New Zealand' on the other side of the planet tying NZ to an undignified colonial history is something that the modern country should be able to move beyond.


The retort that the monarchy is now a benign institution does not bear any real scrutiny.

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V
Vlad 1 hour ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

Oh right, now I'm agreeing with someone who posted something completely different? Only in your deranged mind, you addlepated f-wit.


YOU made a statement and the YOU contradicted yourself. Now you're trying to weasel out of mit by making all kinds of illogical mental leaps. You're not just a moron, you're the king of morons.

65 Go to comments
D
Deplorable 1 hour ago
How Tom Wright responded when asked about Wallabies’ Bledisloe Cup drought

So 21 years with a variety of coaches and still no Bledisloe in the cabinet???

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Terry24 1 hour ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

What part of that statement do you disagree with?

You do need some substantiation to call people names, so if youre not the clown/idiot, give us some substantiation...what part of that statement do you disagree with? If you can't explain it, you're a low IQ moron. (Think we both know the answer here)

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Terry24 1 hour ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

Whether World rugby gives teams .05 of a point for hammering a minnow or rounds it down to zero are both trivial in terms of the rankings. You don't get points for hammering minnows but in general you get points for beating opponents who are not relavent minnows. Your point is for anoraks, its irrelevant to this conversation.

I was replying to an idiot who maintained that Ireland benefitted from a biased ranking system. You seemed to be agreeing with this? Otherwise toss off you numbskull.

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Terry24 1 hour ago
What Tom Curry said when asked would he shake Bongi Mbonambi's hand

Don't like these questions trying to reignite a row.

Curry and Bongi know what happenned there.

Regardless of what was said the English media's reaction was f***ing outrageous.

Clearly most of the self righteousness was sour grapes for losing the semi. Dominating the pre final interviews with self important scores of questions re CurryGate and nothing on the rugby is unforgivable.

Solisi said that the English media is F**ked up.

It is all about England winning, no matter what the sport: and they will turn on everyone and anyone when that doesn't happen as it sells papers for him. In 2023 it was Bongi. The papers in question could honestly not give a flying f**k about racism. On the country they spend their time attacking minorities and non -whites.

So when the great SA captain says they are f***ed up. He is right on many levels.


Diego Maradona was the greatest soccer player to play the game. But his entire legacy in England the supposed 'home of rugby' was his handball against them. 40 years later at his death they were still going on about it. Gladly he was still taking the piss of them over it til the end!

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Vlad 1 hour ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

"Ireland were number one for most of 2022/2023. So what?

We'd trade it for a RWC win obviously."


Not just an idiot, but a clown too.

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B
B 1 hour ago
Ex-All Black stars for Toulon in last-gasp win

all other things being equal Scott Robertson will get Leicester back in black for RWC 2027...

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Vlad 1 hour ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

Oh, the principle is so well understood that you are completely justified in directly contradicting it and then, instead of apologising (because it takes a man to do that), you fob it off by calling it trivial.


What an idiot.


PS: What about the conspiracy theory you accused me of spreading? You're a moron.

65 Go to comments
T
Terry24 1 hour ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

Ireland were number one for most of 2022/2023. So what?

We'd trade it for a RWC win obviously. What is your point?

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Terry24 1 hour ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

The RWC is a joke in International global tournamant terms. It was set up to enrich the big teams. The fact that only two teams have won the last 5 tournaments and won 7 out of 10 RWCs just shows what a farce it is.

The arrogant boasting of the two teams in question just emphasizes the clown show.

65 Go to comments
T
Terry24 2 hours ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

When posting I assume that I don't need to delve into all the minutae of the rankings system and that the principle is well understood in general that you get points for beating teams and you lose points for losing against teams.


Well done you have correctly identified a trivial detail which is you don't get points for trashing relative minnows. Slow hand clap. As far as the contests under discussion here involving the top 3 teams in the world are concerned then as in the vast majority of internationals, ranking points are at play.


THe fact that 3 points are added to a teams ranking for calculation purposes if playing at home is significant: that's why Ireland gained a lot in Durban and SA lost a lot (and not just blood).


But again congrats and forcefully driving home that indeed if you play a relative minnow no points are on offer. Also, check your bathroom mirror out, the muppet show is on.

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V
Vlad 2 hours ago
It’s second chance Saturday for Ireland in men's world rankings

First Terry24 said: "If you win a match you gain points"

Later Terry24 directly contradicted himself: "Nobody gets points against teams who are more than 10 points behind them in the rankings."


I have no idea where you get the ridiculous idea that I'm pushing a conspiracy theory of any sort. If you wish to apply the appellation "moronic", the correct place would be when you face your bathroom mirror.

65 Go to comments
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