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The Brave Blossoms head to Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, November 8, 2025, to take on a wounded Ireland team that lost to the All Blacks in Chicago last weekend.
Japan themselves were handed another heavy defeat against a top-tier nation as the Springboks beat them comfortably in London, as they conceded 9 tries in a 7-61 defeat.
The issue is that under Brave Blossoms Head Coach Eddie Jones, even if he is constantly sending a message the team is rebuilding, is that they have really struggled against the top test teams and have had some big losses against the likes of England, France, South Africa etc and it is only against the lower ranked Pacific Nations Cup, a poor Wales team, and a second string Wallabies outfit they have looked better.
Jones said in the wake of the loss last weekend, "It was a tough old day. We got beaten in some key areas of the game, and any ball we did get was in a very negative situation and so we struggled to get into the game.
It shows that there is a big gap between where South Africa is and where we are. But for this young team, it’s an experience you don’t want to have, but you need to have, to realise how big a gap it is. So now we have to pick ourselves up and get ready for Ireland.”
Ben Gunter, who has had a good season for the Japanese, was yellow-carded in the loss, and explained, "Japan has become capable of competing against the world's strongest teams, and I believe that pushing ourselves even harder and growing by competing against stronger teams is what is required and essential from now on.
We can expect that our next opponent will play out differently, but I believe that it is extremely important to learn and grow through these matches. With each match, we are gaining confidence and feeling that we are growing. We would like to aim to reach the top four by always taking on the best and strongest teams and challenging boldly."
The only scorer in the defeat to the world champions was University player Yutaka Yazaki, who scored his first Test try in his 7th appearance and he commented, “The Japanese national team aims to play ultra-fast rugby, I think that moving the ball quickly is something we need to continue to do, so I am glad that we were able to do that a little…I want to continue to grow until we can win at the World Cup."
When the tour schedule was announced, most fans would have predicted that Japan would lose to the fancied Boks and Irish, but the following two games against Wales and Georgia are important to put a performance and result together and hugely significant for them to improve on World Rugby ranking points.
An Ireland team in Dublin on the back of a loss will be out for blood, and it could well be the Brave Blossoms who will be scalped mercilessly and hung out to dry.
Head Coach Andy Farrell is stuck between an ageing squad and one which needs an injection of new talent two years out from the RWC 2027, and he has selected Caelan Doris to captain the team with Tom Farrell to debut at centre.
He said of Japan, “It will be a battle against a Japanese side that plays the game in a positive manner and will look to ask questions of us. From our side, we will look to be sharp and implement our game plan, and we’re preparing for a big test.”
Jones said this week he has been impressed by what Farrell has done and quipped, “No one in Ireland wants Ireland to lose, and so the expectation is to win every game; when they lose a game, it's a calamity. It's the first time I've read the (Irish) papers for a while, and I've been reading that it's a crisis in Irish rugby."
It's still a formidable Irish forward pack which the Brave Blossoms will have to front up to. Eddie Jones has stuck with the same front row (with both Kenji Sato and Kenta Kobayashi earning only their 7th caps), but he has bolstered the second row with the sizable Epineri Uluiviti alongside captain Warner Dearns.
The back row sees one change from that which faced South Africa, with Faulua Makisi coming in from the bench for Michael Leitch, who himself reverts to the subs.
Scrumhalf and Toulouse-based Naoto Saito starts, which is an exciting addition to the backline, and he partners with the reliable Seungsin Lee. The rest of the backs are the same, with the likes of co-captain Dylan Riley one of the key threats to unlock a new-look Irish midfield.
Most of the Japanese reserves remain unchanged, but Sam Greene drops out, and Toyota Verblitz’s utility back, Shinya Komura, is set to make his debut.
The entire Brave Blossoms matchday squad, excluding Leitch, has fewer than 350 caps, and the talisman himself has 91 caps, but Jones can not keep relying on the excuse of the team lacking experience to hide behind big defeats to top ten teams. At some point, his policy and the players need to deliver at the biggest stages, and there are few bigger than playing Ireland in Dublin.
