Springboks vs Japan: All the details

The Springboks will be opening their Rugby World Cup campaign today. Heyneke Meyer’s men will be taking on Japan at the Brighton Community Stadium in Brighton.

The Springboks will be looking to start off on the right note but will be weary of team coached by Eddie Jones. This will be the first time the Springboks will face Japan in a Test match.

There will be a number of debutants for South Africa in this match such as Lood de Jager, Zane Kirchner, Jesse Kriel and Lwazi Mvovo, while Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Trevor Nyakane, Coenie Oosthuizen, Handré Pollard and Adriaan Strauss might start from the bench.

A number of bokke will also be chasing personal milestones in tomorrow’s match.

Bryan Habana will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok wing, with 109 caps in this position while Jean de Villiers will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok centre, with 92 caps. This will tie him with Gary Teichmann as the second most capped Springbok captain.

In the Japanese team, a number of changes were made to the starting line up that played their last test match earlier this month.

Akihito Yamada replaces Yoshikazu Fujita on the wing and Hendrik Tui moves from the wing to number eight. Fly-half Harumichi Tatekawa drops to the bench in place of Kosei Ono, and Kensuke Hatakeyama replaces Hiroshi Yamashita, who is named as a replacement.

South African starting 15

15-Zane Kirchner, 14-Bryan Habana, 13-Jesse Kriel, 12-Jean de Villiers (captain), 11-Lwazi Mvovo, 10-Pat Lambie, 9-Ruan Pienaar; 8-Schalk Burger, 7-Willem Alberts, 6-Francois Louw, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Lood de Jager, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Bismarck du Plessis, 1-Tendai Mtawarira.

Replacements: 16-Adriaan Strauss, 17-Trevor Nyakane, 18-Coenie Oosthuizen, 19-Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20-Siya Kolisi, 21-Fourie du Preez, 22-Handre Pollard, 23-JP Pietersen.

Japan starting 15

15- Ayumu Goromaru, 14- Akihito Yamada, 13- Male Sa’u, 12- Craig Wing, 11- Kotaro Matsushima, 10-Kosei Ono, 9-Fumiaki Tanaka, 8-Hendrik Tui, 7-Michael Broadhurst, 6-Michael Leitch (captain), 5-Hitoshi Ono, 4-Luke Thompson, 3- Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2-Shota Horie, 1- Masataka Mikami

Replacements: 16-Takeshi Kizu, 17- Keita Inagaki, 18- Hiroshi Yamashita, 19- Shinya Makabe, 20- Amanaki Mafi, 21- Atsushi Hiwasa, 22- Harumichi Tatekawa, 23- Karne Hesketh

Kick-off for the match is at 17:45 South African time.

From 5.45pm the Record journalists Sonwabile Antonie (@SonwabileRR) and Mathilde Myburgh (@kritiek_aster) will be livetweeting the match. Given that one knows what he’s talking about and the other has no clue about sports, it should be an interesting thing to watch. Join in on the conversation or follow @RdptRecord for live updates!

Want to receive news alerts via WhatsApp? Send us an SMS/ WhatsApp message with your name and cellphone number to 079 414 6709. 

Familiarise yourself with our WhatsApp service disclaimer.

Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.

For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites Randfontein Herald, Krugersdorp News and Get It Joburg West Magazine

Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!