Lions and Brave Blossoms meet
A Spanish XV meets a Japan XV at Campos de Pepe Rojo in Valladolid on Saturday.
It is not the full Japanese side but coach Mashiro Kunda said that several of the players would be at the World Cup in 2011. (Japan have a team in New Zealand under coach John Kirwan at present.
Sprin have a new coach - Régis Sonnes, a 37-year-old former French international who has been coaching a top Spanish club, CRC Madrid, for the past two years. He takes over from Ged Glynn. Sonnes has already said that his three-year plan is to get Spain qualified for the 2015 World Cup. This is his first look at his players.
The Spainish team for this match is virtually a new team. Prop Ion Inausti has 25 caps and wing Benjamin Pardo has eleven. The rest have fewer than 10 caps and Francisco Blanco, Juan Anaya, Javier Miranda, Unai Lasa, Lionel Pardo, David Barrera, Florent Mendez, Aníbal Bonan, Sergi Aubanell, Koldo Barandiaran, Sergio Fernández, Agustín Gómez and Eduardo Martin have no caps at all.
It's a strong Japan team which lost 24-5 to a Scottish side of capped players through two tries near the end.
Teams:
Spanish XV: 15 Eduardo Martín, 14 Agustín Gómez, 13 Sergi Aubanell, 12 Alejandro Gutierrez, 11 Benjamín Pardo (captain), 10 Santiago Fernandez, 9 Mickael López, 8 Alejandro Ortega, 7 Lionel Pardo, 6 Florent Mendez, 5 Anibal Bonan, 4 David Barrera, 3 David Gugernadze, 2 Unai Lasa, 1 Ion Insausti
Replacements: 16 Juan Anaya, 17 Francisco Blanco, 18 Javier Miranda, 19 Jesús Recuerda, 20 Damián Elgoyhen, 21 Sergio Fernández, 22 Marc Puigbert, 23 Koldo Barandiaran
Jaoan Select squad: iroshige Teduka, Hirotaka Hirahara, Heiichiro Ito, Yusuke Nage, Takahiro Doi, Tomoaki Taniguchi, Hidetoshi Mine, Eiri Nakata, Timothy Bond, Koji Shinozuka, Yoichi Iijima, Youngdae Kim, Iongi Sioeri, Nathan Anderson, Shuhei Oshima, Masakazu Irie (captain), Tomohiro Semba, Yuta Imamura, Takayuki Yamauchi, Aisea Mattaali Havea, Masahiro Tsuiki, Tomoki Kitagawa, Paea Mifiposeti, Kenji Syomen, Ayumu Goromaru
Date: Saturday, 5 June 2010
Kick-off: 18.00
Venue: Campos de Pepe Rojo, Valladolid
Referee: Jean Luc Rebollal (French)