Eddie Jones could thrust university student into Japan team to take on England

Yoshitaka Yazaki, a 20-year-old university student, could be handed an eye-catching debut for Japan in the Test against England next Saturday.

The match in Tokyo marks the first coaching head-to-head between Cherry Blossoms’ head coach Eddie Jones and his former assistant Steve Borthwick, since the former was sacked from his role at Twickenham.

Last month, Jones named his first Japan training squad since controversially leaving the Wallabies’ head coach role in November, and selected 12 uncapped players – including two students – in the 35-man cohort.

One of those students, Yazaki, has been singled out for praise by Jones after some notable showings for Junior Japan, with the uncapped full-back – standing at 5ft 9in and 85kg – telling Japanese media on Wednesday that he is in contention to start against England.

“Eddie told me that there is a possibility that I will play,” said Yazaki. “I don’t need to do anything special, I just want to play super-fast rugby while paying attention to the details in each play.”

Jones previously held the role of Japan head coach from 2012 to 2015, which included a remarkable victory over South Africa at the World Cup. Soon after being re-appointed in December, he outlined his ambitions: finding a new “adventurous” style; progressing from the top eight in the world to the top four; and “creating the next rugby [Shohei] Otani”, a reference to the Japanese baseball player at Los Angeles Dodgers, who is considered one of Major League Baseball’s greatest ever.

“We need to find a new style of play that is adventurous, which suits Japanese instincts, that is attacking in its way,” said Jones. “We have to go back to the past to create a new future for Japanese rugby.

“It’s about how you can make young players be really ambitious in wanting to be the best player they can and create the next rugby [Shohei] Otani.”

In a twist of fate, on the day that a potential Jones protégé emerged for Japan, another left the sport entirely. Carter Gordon, the fly-half in whom Jones put his faith during last year’s Rugby World Cup in an effort to build for Australia’s future, has signed a two-year deal with the Gold Coast Titans, a rugby league franchise.