[2014 EOYT] Japan

[iINDOMINUSxx]

well, why not ?. I've seen the Japan play last year even though they suffered a heavy lost to Scotland, New Zealand and Gloucester but they showed impressive skill and scored really good tries throughout the 2013 EOYT. But in this years summer tests they beat Samoa and even beat a out of form Italy. Eddie Jones has picked a very interesting squad with Shota Horie and Fumiaki Tanaka missing. there are a possible first caps for Karne Hesketh (Winger), Amanaki Lelei Mafi (Number-8), Shinnosuke Kakinaga and Keita Inagaki (Both Props).

So this is the squad that Eddie Jones picked for the 2014 EOYT.

Hookers: Ryuhei Arita (Coca Cola West Red Sparks), Takeshi Kizu (Kobelco Steelers), Hiroki Yuhara (Toshiba Brave Lupus)
Props: Kensuke Hatakeyama (Suntory Sungoliath), Keita Inagaki (Panasonic Wild Knights), Shinnosuke Kakinaga (Suntory Sungoliath), Masataka Mikami (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Hiroshi Yama****a (Kobelco Steelers)
Locks: Shoji Ito (Kobelco Steelers), Shinya Makabe (Suntory Sungoliath), Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Luke Thompson (Kintetsu Liners)
Back-rows: Michael Leitch (c) (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Hendrik Tui (Queensland Reds), Ryuta Yasui (Kobelco Steelers), Hayden Hopgood (Kamaishi Seawaves), Amanaki Lelei Mafi (NTT Shining Arcs)
Scrum-Half's: Atsushi Hiwasa (Suntory Sungoliath), Yuki Yatomi (Yamaha Júbilo)
Fly-Half's: Kosei Ono (Suntory Sungoliath), Harumichi Tatekawa (Kubota Spears)
Centres: Kotaro Matsushima (Suntory Sungoliath), Male Sa'u (Melbourne Rebels), Yuu Tamura (NEC Green Rockets), Craig Wing (Kobelco Steelers)
Back-Three: Yoshikazu Fujita (Waseda University), Karne Hesketh (Fukuoka Sanix Blues), Toshiaki Hirose (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Akihito Yamada (Panasonic Wild Knights), Ayumu Goromaru (Yamaha Júbilo)

And This is Japan's Fixture for they're 2014 EOYT Campaign.

Japan vs Maori All Blacks
1 November 2014, 14:00 JST (UTC+9)
Noevir Stadium, Kobe, Japan
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)

Japan vs Maori All Blacks
8 November 2014, 14:00 JST (UTC+9)
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo, Japan
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)

Romania vs Japan
15 November 2014, 16:00 EET (UTC+2)
Stadionul Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest, Romania
Referee: JP Doyle (England)

Georgia vs Japan
23 November 2014, 17:00 GET (UTC+4)
Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia
Referee: Romain Poite (France)​

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

The thing I've found most impressive about Japan when I've watched them is their recycling speed. Their scrum half really knows what getting the ball out quickly means. If they can improve other areas of that game but keep the fast recycling, they could be very potent.

 

[ruggabee]

Japan may not be one of the top top rugby nations but I always look forward to watching them play. They have good skill to open up some of the bigger nations out wide. They're technically sound, precise, and fast.

Saw this recently, which I was impressed with.



Check out that shunt on the AB pack close to the end.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

The thing I've found most impressive about Japan when I've watched them is their recycling speed. Their scrum half really knows what getting the ball out quickly means. If they can improve other areas of that game but keep the fast recycling, they could be very potent.

well i do believe you'll be talking about Fumiaki Tanaka who is said to be one off the best scrum-half's in the world but he isn't available for the tests but mind you when i watched Atsushi Hiwasa at murrayfield he was pretty quick too so idk.