Preview: Japan v Italy
JUNE SPOTLIGHT: Italian coach Conor O’Shea has tweaked his team in the hope of turning the team’s fortunes around.
Japan, who scored a 34-17 win over the Azzurri at the Oita Stadium last week, will host the Italians in Kobe on Saturday – in the second, and last, of their Tests in the June international season.
O’Shea made two changes to the starting line-up.
Jayden Hayward returns at fullback, with Matteo Minozzi moving to the left wing – in place of the injured Mattia Bellini.
In the only change to the forward pack Jake Polledri takes the place of Giovanni Licata on the flank.
Japan coach Jamie Joseph made just one change to his starting XV.
Yoshitaka Tokunaga will start at flank and Amanaki Mafi has dropped down to the replacements bench.
Teams:
Japan: 15 Kotaru Matsushima, 14 Lomano Lemeki, 13 Will Tupou, 12 Timothy Lafaele, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Kazuki Himeno, 7 Michael Leitch (captain), 6 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 5 Samuela Anise, 4 Wimpie van der Walt, 3 Ji-Won Koo, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki.
Replacements: 16 Yusuke Niwai, 17 Shintaro Ishihara, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Uwe Helu, 20 Amanaki Mafi, 21 Yutaka Nagare, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Ryoto Nakamura.
Italy: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Matteo Minozzi, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Abraham Steyn, 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Dean Budd, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lovotti.
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Cherif Traore, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Giovanni Licata, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Giulio Bisegni.
Date: Saturday, June 16
Venue: Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
Kick-off: 14.00 (07.00 Italian time; 05.00 GMT)
Referee: Nick Briant (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Nic Berry (Australia)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)
