Ex-Wales international Jake Ball makes his first start of the season on Saturday after recovering from a nagging shoulder injury.
The 32-year-old second row, who has amassed 50 caps for Wales, is back to full fitness to play for Wayne Pivac’s NEC Green Rockets who travel to Osaka to face fourth-place Red Hurricanes.
Ball’s return will galvanise the Chiba-based team who have made a solid start to their bid for an instant return to League One’s top-flight.
The Rockets sit third in the six-team second tier with two wins from three games with former Osprey Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler’s Toyota Industries Shuttles sitting top as the division’s only unbeaten side.
Osaka’s Hurricanes also boast two wins from their opening three games and present a difficult obstacle on the road for the Rockets who opened their season with a 31-28 triumph over arch-rivals Urayasu D-Rocks.
Ball played under Pivac at the Scarlets and then for Wales before joining the Green Rockets in 2021.
Pivac was installed for the 2023-2024 season with the objective of restoring the club to division 1 in his first post since parting ways with the Welsh Rugby Union in 2022.
While long-time Scarlet Ball adds his hulking 6ft 6in, 120kg, presence to an experienced forwards pack, former Wallabies scrum-half Nick Phipps, 35, and Japan’s outstanding late World Cup call-up and club captain Lomano Lemeki will marshal their impressive backline. Evergreen full-back Lemeki, 34, told RugbyJP.com: “It’s very good to have Jake back this week.
“He’s a big part of our forward pack and he brings a lot of experience, size and physicality. He’s the ultimate professional so it will be good to have him out there tomorrow disrupting the lineouts and breakdowns.”
Pictures courtesy of NEC Green Rockets
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