Japan v England: rugby union international – live

Will this be a brave new era for Borthwick, starting off with a win over the Brave Blossoms?

This he word ‘brave’ has been doing a lot of heavy lifting this week. Henry Slade, the team’s vice-captain – of of four if you can believe – called on his teammates to show some gumption in Tokyo:

Eddie Jones has selected a largely inexperienced squad for his first Test back as head coach of the Brave Blossoms, with a university student yet to make his fisrt-class debut at fullback.

Yoshitaka Yazaki has shown plenty of promise in Japan XV’s recent World Rugby Pacific Challenge-winning campaign, as well as last year’s World Rugby U20 Championship, but it’s a tough ask for the 20-year-old to make such a giant leap to the elite level.

Michael Leitch is still there, though. In his 16th year as a professional, he’ll skipper the side for the first time since July 2021.

Japan: Yazaki; Naikabula, Riley, Osada, Nezuka; Lee, Sato; Mohara, Harada, Takeuchi, Waqa, Dearns, Leitch (cap), Costley, Makisi.

Replacements: Sakate, Miura, Tamefusa, Saumaki, Yamamoto, Fujiwara, Matsuda, Tua.

Borthwick was rewarded players who showed domestic form and will field a group bursting with attacking promise.

Northampton’s George Furbank and Tommy Freeman earn their place in the starting XV with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso potroling the wing. Henry Slade in midfield provides experience and Marcus Smith gets the nod at 10.

It’s a beefy pack with Sam Underhill and Ben Earl uniting in a mobile backrow. Charlie Ewels returns to the squad and is one of four Bath players selected.

England: Furbank; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Lawrence, Freeman; M Smith, Mitchell; Rodd, George (c), Cole, Itoje, Martin, Cunningham-Smith, Underhill, Earl.

Replacements: Dan, Marler, Stuart, Ewels, Curry, Randall, F Smith, Roebuck.

It’s “a little bit weird” that England and Eddie Jones are crossing paths so soon after their messy divorce in 2022.

Oh, those aren’t my words, but the sentiment expressed by England’s captain Jamie George, who went as far as suggesting that some England players would need to double check that they weren’t receiving instructions from the wrong coach’s box.

He was joking of course, but there’s a strange twist of fate at play here. Jones remains England’s most successful coach in terms of win percentage with 72.8%, substantially more than Steve Borthwick’s record of 57.1%.

And like an ex that leaves an emotional imprint for life, Jones’ mark on this England team is apparent still. Five of today’s match-day 23 were part of arguably Jones’ most famous win – the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.

It’s a new dawn for both teams and their coaches. Borthwick will be eager to build on the unexpected success of last year’s World Cup by proving that he can add attacking nous to his pragmatic gameplan.

As for Jones, he’ll want to put the disastrous Australian tenure behind him and Japan will want to raise their game after falling by the wayside over the past eight years.

It’s a fascinating contest, one dripping with meaning and stacked with narrative. I’m looking forward to it!

If you have a thought you’d like to share do drop me a mail.

Kick off at 6:50am BST/2:50pm in Tokyo.