Deans, Saito and others start for Japan national rugby team, match against England on 14th

On the 12th, the Japan Rugby Union announced the 23 members of the Japan national team who will be playing in the fifth game of the new international tournament, the Nations Championship, against England (on the 14th at Twickenham on the outskirts of London), with co-captain lock Deans (Musashi), SH Saito (Tokyo SG), and SO Kitahara (Tochigi) included in the starting lineup.

Saito, who held an online press conference ahead of the match against a strong team that has lost all of their past 13 matches, said enthusiastically, ``As a team, we will concentrate on the opening 20 minutes.We want to be proactive, not passive.''

The change from the match against Wales on the 7th was to appoint WTB Tokito (Musashi), who does not have a national team cap. SH Fujiwara (Tokyo Bay) was substituted. Head coach Jones said, ``Tokito has good running ability and is strong in the air. I think he will do a great job.''