TEST RUGBY: Asia5Nations-Japan v UAE

05.05.2012
United Arab Emirates v Japan in Fukuoka (Asia5Nations)

Venue:

Referee: Harold Mason (Singapore)

Preview
The omens do not look good for the UAE team. Despite a healthy build up and preparations, this team is well out of its depth in this competition.

The UAE lost 7-15 to Tunisia in a warm up game back in early April. They lost their opening Asia5Nations game 10-85 to Hong Kong at home last weekend. The thought of playing away to Japan must send a shudder down the visitors spines. They will be playing the giant of Asian rugby in their backyard.

Japan has made a number of changes to the team that started against Kazakhstan. Noteably, Yoshikazu Fujita becomes the youngest ever Japanese test rugby player at just 18. Other debutants are Hashimoto, Kuwazuru and Morikawa.

Japan began their Asia5Nations competition
with an 87-0 win over Kazakhstan.

Despite the changes the Japanese are going to have too much pace, power and possession. The UAE will be doing well to restrict the score to less than 100.

Other Previews
http://www.uaera.ae/english/representative_teams.php?news_id=636

‘A few changes, personnel and positional. Hirose again captains and Goromaru,Ono and Senba all keep their places. The most notable change is at 11 where Fujita becomes the youngest capped Japanese player with vet Onozawa not in the 22 this week (The reason given is he's moving house!).
2007RWC captain Sasaki switches from 7 to 8, Daiki Hashimoto at 7 is the other run on debutant, while Mochizuki (6), Tsuboi at 3 and Tatekawa at 12 will enjoy only their second caps ever and first this season. So the backrow is the most changed aspect of the lineup and even smaller than last week but still should be too good for the weal UAE team, especially as the front five are almost the same as last week.’
Thanks to ‘Yamaha Kiwi’ at http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3675&start=225

Previous Encounter
13.05.2011 Japan 111-0 in Dubai (Asia5Nations)

Japan Last Five
28.04.2012 v Kazakhstan W 87-0 in Almaty (Asia5Nations)
22.09.2011 v Canada D 23-23 in Napier (World Cup, Pool A)
21.09.2011 v Tonga L 18-31 in Whangarei (World Cup, Pool A)
16.09.2011 v New Zealand L 7-83 in Hamilton (World Cup, Pool A)
10.09.2011 v France L 21-47 in Albany (World Cup, Pool A)

United Arab Emirates Last Five
27.04.2012 v Hong Kong L 10-87 in Dubai (Asia5Nations)
06.04.2012 v Tunisia L 7-15 in Tunis (Friendly)
16.12.2011 v Kenya L 17-55 in Dubai (Cup of Nations)
13.12.2011 v Brazil L 3-66 in Dubai (Cup of Nations)
10.12.2011 v Hong Kong L 14-72 in Dubai (Cup of Nations)

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Japan 13th, UAE 28th
Asia Table-Japan 1st, UAE 3rd

IRB Ranking Points do not apply

Prediction: Japan by 120 points

Teams

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

15		Timothy Fletcher	Jebel Ali Dragons
14		Sean Hurley	Dubai Dragons
13		Imad Reyal	Dubai Exiles
12		Jonathon O’Connor	Abu Dhabi Harlequins
11		Steven Smith	Dubai Hurricanes
10		Murray Strang	Abu Dhabi Harlequins
9		Patrick Hegarty	Abu Dhabi Harlequins
8		Alistair Thompson (Capt.)	Abu Dhabi Harlequins
7		David Matasio	Dubai Wasps
6		Brett Williams	Dubai Exiles
5		Simon Osborne	Dubai Hurricanes
4		Gregory Thompson	Dubai Hurricanes
3		Daniel Boatwright	Dubai Hurricanes
2		Peter Sampson	Abu Dhabi Harlequins
1		Christopher Jones-Griffiths	Abu Dhabi Harlequins
16		Charles Lilley	Abu Dhabi Harlequins
17		Graham Murphy	Abu Dhabi Harlequins
18		Tristan Barnett	Dubai Hurricanes
19		John Fawls	Dubai Exiles
20		Antoine Bertheuil	Dubai Frogs
21		Joel Pikari	Abu Dhabi Harlequins
22		Mohammed Alsulaiman	Dubai Wasps
		HEAD COACH: Duncan Hall

JAPAN

15		Ayumu Goromaru	Yamaha
14		Toshiaki Hirose	Toshiba
13		Tomohiro Senba	Toshiba
12		Harumichi Tatekawa	Kubota
11		Yoshikazu Fujita	Waseda University
10		Kosei Ono	Suntory
9		Jun Fujii	Toshiba
8		Takamichi Sasaki	Suntory
7		Daiki Hashimoto	Kobe Steel
6		Yuta Mochizuki	Toshiba
5		Shinya Makabe	Suntory
4		Hitoshi Ono	Toshiba
3		Hidetatsu Tsuboi	Chugoku Electric Power
2		Ryuhei Arita	Coca Cola
1		Kensuke Hatakeyama	Suntory
16		Takeshi Kizu	Kobe Steel
17		Yusuki Nagae	Chugoku Electric Power
18		Shoji Ito	Kobe Steel
19		Yusaku Kuwazuru	Coca Cola
20		Keisuke Uchida	Tsukuba University
21		Kaito Morikawa	Honda
22		Yasunori Nagatomo	Suntory
		HEAD COACH: Eddie Jones