Nearly half of the 30 players named to Japan's 2023 Rugby World Cup squad on Tuesday, August 15 were listed on the Brave Blossoms roster four years ago for the sport's biggest tournament.
Head coach Jamie Joseph announced the team's roster at a news conference in Tokyo. And a send-off event was also held on the same day for the Brave Blossoms in the nation's capital.
Up next: The Brave Blossoms will fly to Italy for an August 26 tuneup match in Treviso against the Italian national team.
Joseph is set to name three more players to the roster before the August 21 deadline. Injury concerns factored into his decision to hold off on naming the full squad.
Of the 30 Brave Blossoms players whose names were announced on Tuesday, 13 return from Japan's 2019 Rugby World Cup squad. Among them are former captain Michael Leitch, hooker Shota Horie, outside back Kotaro Matsushima and prop Keita Inagaki.
Horie and Leitch are both set to appear in their fourth World Cup. Leitch is the most-capped player (79 official international matches) on the squad.
A Large Number of Rugby World Cup Debutants
For Japan, 17 players are set to make their World Cup debuts four years after the Brave Blossoms thrilled the nation by advancing to the tournament quarterfinals on home soil.
Japan's tourney newcomers will compete alongside No 8 Kazuki Himeno, the team captain, and other World Cup returnees, including prop Asaeli Ai Valu, hooker Atsushi Sakate, lock James Moore, flyhalf Rikiya Matsuda, inside center Ryoto Nakamura and wing back Lomano Lava Lemeki.
Building on its success from 2019, Japan is determined to advance past the quarterfinals at the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
"We're ready to make history [and] we're confident we can," Himeno, who made his Brave Blossoms debut in 2017, said on Tuesday. "Let's take on the world together."
In addition, prop Sione Halasili, 23-year-old Yokohama Canon Eagles player, and scrumhalf Kenta Fukuda, a 26-year-old Toyota Verblitz player, aim to earn their first caps during the tourney in France.
Coach Joseph's Outlook
Directing the Brave Blossoms in his final tournament in charge, Joseph elaborated on Himeno's words about the team's goals for the World Cup.
"We're going into the World Cup to win it," Joseph told reporters. "As a tournament, if you can get to the quarterfinals, anything can happen. So our first step is to make the top eight and take things from there.
"We understand that's a massive challenge. But the team takes a lot of confidence from what we achieved in 2019, surprising the world by the way we played and how we went through our pool unbeaten. It's our challenge to do that again in 2023."
Assembling a roster of 33 players is a complicated process, one that involves a lot of analysis.
Just ask Joseph, whose team has lost four of five summer matches to date.
"In selecting the squad we've worked around the fact that we can't replace or take more than 33 players, so we need to make sure all bases are covered," Joseph told reporters. "What that looks like in terms of specialist positions, we're taking nine front rowers and three specialist nines and tens [among the backs]. So just under half the squad cover only five positions.
"In terms of the final selection, it reduces our options, so we've selected players who can focus on one position, but also have the ability to play in another one or two positions as well."
A Look Ahead
The Rugby World Cup gets underway on September 8 in France and runs through October 28.
Japan faces Chile (September 10 in Toulouse), England (September 17 in Nice), Samoa (September 28 in Toulouse) and Argentina (October 8 in Nantes) in Pool D matches.
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Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and Twitter ＠ed_odeven.
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