University fly-half Ito, 21, makes Japan bow v Italy

Japan has named Meiji University fly-half Ryunosuke Ito to make his Brave Blossoms debut against Italy in the opening round of the inaugural Nations Championship on Saturday.

Ito, 21, shone against the Māori All Blacks last week despite the hosts suffering a second half collapse and being edged out 38-31 as Eddie Jones served the penultimate game of his suspension.

The highly-rated youngster, whose older brother Kotaro, 24, plays at fly-half for Black Rams Tokyo, will play the first professional game of his burgeoning career against Gonzalo Quesada’s Italian side who lost against Wales last time out in the Six Nations.

Japan’s first choice fly-half, Kobe Steelers’ League One winner Lee Seung-sin, needs surgery and former England and Wallabies coach Jones has resisted calls to recall experienced fly-halves such as Saitama Wild Knights’ Takuya Yamasawa and Toyota Verblitz playmaker Rikiya Matsuda.

The 5ft 5in (170cm), 11 stone 11 pounds (75kg) pivot, who can also play in the midfield and at full-back, impressed everyone with his maturity and game management in Nagoya.

Fourth-year student Ito (below) finished the game with the most carries (14), beat the most defenders (six) and produced three try assists.

© JRFU

Acting Japan head coach Neal Hatley, who was sitting in for Jones who will return to full duty for next week’s trip to play Ireland in Australia, said it was an easy decision to give the talented youngster the nod to start the Brave Blossoms’ first fixture in a Tier 1 competition outside of a World Cup.

“Ito is a very exciting young player,” said the Englishman who also leads the Japan XV side.

“You saw against the Māori All Blacks he has flashes of attacking brilliance. He wants to attack the line. We feel that he suits the way we want to play. It was an easy choice.”

Japan, who are close to selling out the 27,000-capacity Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Tokyo, have been boosted by the return of Hurricanes lock Warner Dearns and Toulouse scrum-half Naoto Saito who go straight into the startling fifteen following their title wins in Super Rugby and the Top 14 respectively.

Dearns, a revelation in his first Super Rugby campaign, retains the captaincy and will win his 33rd cap at just 24. The Wellington-born star is returning to his parent club Toshiba Brave Lupus next season while teammate Saito will be returning to Suntory Sungoliath.

“Warner and Naoto are key players for us,” said Hatley.

“Warner has won his third title in three years. We want players who are used to winning. Naoto has won the title with Toulouse. Along with the experience they've got, they have both captained for Japan.

“They’ve only just finished their club seasons. They've trained exceptionally well and they're straight into the team in important positions.”

Japan has opted for a 6-2 split on the bench with Kobe’s New Zealand-born flanker Tiennan Costley, who was recently named the ‘Best Tackler’ in League One, covering the back row but also being an option on the wing.

“We have a bit of a hybrid player in Tiennan. He came off the bench against South Africa on the wing last year at Wembley. We expect a heavy forward battle. We’re prepared for that.”

Ito is the sole debutant in the startling line-up with three newcomers poised to win their first Test caps from the bench.

Kwansei Gakuin University prop Sojiro Otsuka, Toshiba’s Australia-born lock Michael Stolberg - who has played in Japan since 20216 - and Kobe’s title-winning scrum-half Itsuki Kamimura could all have significant roles to play during the new tournament which will culminate in England in November.

“It’s been a really good week for new caps, we have four young men coming into play so we're really looking forward to it,” added Hatley during Thursday’s press conference.

Japan (1-15): Takato OKABE, Mamoru HARADA, Shuhei TAKEUCHI, Harry HOCKINGS, Warner DEARNS, Ben GUNTER, Kanji SHIMOKAWA, Jack CORNELSEN, Naoto SAITO, Ryunosuke ITO, Kippei ISHIDA, Yuya HIROSE, Dylan RILEY, Kazuma UEDA, Takuro MATSUNAGA Replacements: Hayate ERA, Sojiro OTSUKA, Keijiro TAMEFUSA, Michael STOLBERG, Michael LEITCH, Tiennan COSTLEY, Itsuki KAMIMURA, Sam GREENE

Stay tuned to RugbyJP.com for on-site coverage of Japan’s Nations Championship campaign