Japan make five changes to team despite win over Wales last week

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Japan coach Eddie Jones made five changes to his side to take on Wales in the second test at Kobe on Saturday despite their 24-19 win over the tourists last weekend.

Two changes in the pack and three in the backline were announced on Thursday with Faulua Makisi replacing Amato Fakatava at the base of the scrum and Keijiro Tamefusa taking over from Shuhei Takeuchi in the front row.

Naoto Saito is back at scrumhalf after helping Toulouse win France’s Top 14 competition, which means Shinobu Fujiwara drops to the bench.

Halatoa Vailea, who came on and scored a try in Kitakyushu in the first test, gets a start on the wing and Ichigo Nakakusu, another try scorer at the weekend, replaces the injured Takuro Matsunaga at fullback.

The uncapped duo of Kazuma Ueda and Australian-born Sam Greene were named among the replacements as Jones continues to bolster his squad with an eye on the next World Cup. Last week he named eight uncapped players in his match-day 23.

Wing Ueda was in Japan’s sevens team at last year’s Olympic Games while 30-year-old Greene is a former Queensland Reds flyhalf.

Team: 15-Ichigo Nakakusu, 14-Kippei Ishida, 13-Dylan Riley, 12-Shogo Nakano, 11-Halatoa Vailea, 10-Lee Seungsin, 9-Naoto Saito, 8-Faulua Makisi, 7-Jack Cornelsen, 6-Michael Leitch (captain),5-Warner Dearns, 4-Epineri Uluiviti, 3-Keijiro Tamefusa, 2-Mamoru Harada, 1-Yota Kamimori

Replacements: 16-Hayate Era, 17-Sena Kimura, 18-Shuhei Takeuchi, 19-Waisake Raratubua, 20-Ben Gunter, 21-Shinobu Fujiwara, 22-Sam Greene, 23-Kazuma Ueda. REUTERS