Ben Gunter will earn his second Japan cap after being named to start at six for the Brave Blossoms in their clash with Ireland on Saturday at Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
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The Gunnedah product is part of an unchanged backrow from the one that played the Wallabies, in what was his test debut, a fortnight ago, joining forces with captain Pieter Labuschagne and Kazuki Himeno (No.8).
The match will be the Brave Blossoms' second against Ireland in Dublin in 2021, and marks the start of their three-match European Tour.
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The match day 23 sees a strong mix of experience and exciting young players as Japan looks to build depth across the squad ahead of Rugby World Cup 2023.
France based Kotaro Matsushima, who joined the squad in Dublin has been selected at fullback, while Yu Tamura, having played off the reserves bench against Australia last month in Oita, returns to the starting line-up at number 10.
Australian Dylan Riley has meanwhile been named in the starting 15 for the first time, being selected on the right wing.
"The team is delighted to be back again in Dublin and to have another opportunity to play against a strong Irish side. We have a lot of respect for them as a team and enjoy playing at Aviva Stadium, one of the world's great stadiums," head coach Jamie Joseph said.
"The Irish have a very experienced forward pack and they're going to look to target our set piece, both our scrum and lineout. When we've been successful in the past, we've done well with our set piece, so this will be crucial on Saturday. If we can create enough opportunities when we have the ball, then we've got some very exciting backs that can create, and score tries. We're expecting the Irish to target us with a lot of contestable kicks, so we've selected a back three that we feel are best placed to handle that aspect of the Irish game.
"In terms of the team and our journey, we've got one eye on Saturday's test match, which will be a huge challenge for us, and the other looking at different combinations. It's still early days in terms of our World Cup preparations and only our fourth game in two years, due to the impact of the pandemic. We have some time to get ready, so we're experimenting with positions, keeping consistency with our experienced players and giving opportunities to some of the newer guys."
