Japan RWC Squad named

[AfakasiAssasin]

Forwards (16): Hisateru Hirashima (Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers) Naoki Kawamata (Panasonic Wild Knights), Yusuke Aoki (Suntory Sungoliath), Shota Horie (Panasonic Wild Knights), Hiroki Yuhara (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Kensuke Hatakeyama (Suntory Sungoliath), Nozomu Fujita (Honda Heat), Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Toshizumi Kitagawa (Toyota Verblitz), Luke Thompson (Kintetsu Liners), Justin Ives (Panasonic Wild Knights), Takashi Kikutani (Toyota Verblitz), Michael Leitch (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Sione Vatuvei (Panasonic Wild Knights), Ryukoliniasi Holani (Panasonic Wild Knights), Itaru Taniguchi (Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers)


Backs (14): Fumiaki Tanaka (Panasonic Wild Knights), Tomoki Yoshida (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Atsushi Hiwasa (Suntory Sungoliath), James Arlidge (Nottingham), Murray Williams (Toyota Industries Shuttles), Yuta Imamura (Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers), Ryan Nicholas (Suntory Sungoliath), Koji Taira (Suntory Sungoliath), Alisi Tupuailai (Canon Eagles), Hirotoki Onozawa (Suntory Sungoliath), Kosuke Endo (Toyota Verblitz), Takehisa Usuzuki (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Shaun Webb (Coca-Cola West Red), Taihei Ueda (Honda Heat)

My Japan RWC matchday lineup
1 Hisateru Hirashima
2. Yusuke Aoki
3. Kensuke Hatakeyama
4. Luke Thompshon
5. Toshizumi Kitagawa
6. Takashi Kikutani
7. Michael Leitch
8. Ryukoliniasi Holani
9. Fumiaki Tanaka
10. James Arlidge
11. Takehisa Usuzuki
12. Ryan Nicholas
13. Alisi Tupuailei
14. Kosuke Endo
15. Shaun Webb

16. Shota Horie
17. Naoki Kawamata
18. Hitoshi Ono
19. Sione Vatuvei
20. Tomoki Yoshida
21. Murray Williams
22. Koji Taira

This team has had quite a bit of success under the direction of their New Zealand coach John Kirwin. They have been on the rise in the last 5 years coming from getting beaten by cricket scores in their initial induction to the Pacific nations cup, to winning it this year with victories over Tonga and Fiji. They also won the Asia 5 nations cup, recently won over the USA as well as putting on an impressive performance going down to Italy 31-24 in their RWC warm up matches. Look for them to turn some heads at the RWC with them no longer being whipping boys and possible giant killers on their day. Certainly not a team to be underestimated.

Players to watch
Ryukolinisai Holani (number 8) Kosuke Endo (wing) Alisi Tupuailei (centre/wing)
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