MATCH CENTRE<\/a><\/p>\nKO T-MIN 5: Anthem time<\/p>\n
Both teams are just about to come out for the respective anthems ahead of this contest.<\/p>\n
A sea of white and red in the crowd for the hosts with the odd gold jersey in the stands.<\/p>\n
Side note – the Australia A kit sees a return of the collar, which is a nice touch.<\/p>\n
KO T-MIN 30: Donaldson headlines players to watch<\/p>\n
There are plenty of stars on either side, but it feels like a prime chance for Ben Donaldson to make a statement for the Wallaby gold jersey.<\/p>\n
Donaldson was left out of the Spring Tour squad, but is likely to stay in Japan next week to assist the Wallabies. A big match today could put him right back in selection frame, here’s what Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt had to say:<\/p>\n
“Ben’s\u00a0got a really clear idea of what we’re looking for, so hopefully you and we see that on Saturday\u00a0and he’ll run the game well, he’s got a long kicking game, he’s got a good passing game,\u00a0he’s very good taking the ball to the line and playing in front of the opposition,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s\u00a0more around his ability to control the defensive line particularly from the deep where he tends\u00a0to play and then being able to be involved in that defensive side of the game just as\u00a0much as the attacking side.”<\/p>\n
KO T-MIN 60: Welcome<\/p>\n
Welcome to Rugby.com.au’s coverage of Australia A’s one-off match with Japan XV in Osaka.<\/p>\n
Conditions appear to be overcast at Yodokou Sakura Stadium as both teams look to impress their respective Test coaches.<\/p>\n
There are internationals across the park, setting up a cracking match-up.<\/p>\n
AUSTRALIA A v JAPAN XV TEAMS<\/p>\n
AUSTRALIA A (1-15): Isaac Kailea, Matt Faessler (c), Rhys van Nek, Darcy Swain, Josh Canham, Rory Scott, Luke Reimer, Pete Samu, Teddy Wilson, Ben Donaldson, Ollie Sapsford, Hamish Stewart, Joey Walton, Tim Ryan, Mac Grealy<\/p>\n
Replacements: Ethan Dobbins, Lington Ieli, Dan Botha, Seru Uru, Joe Brial, Henry Robertson, Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, Lachlan Anderson<\/p>\n
JAPAN XV (1-15): Sho Furuhata, Shodai Hirao, Sanshiro Kihara, David Van Zeeland, Shu Yamamoto, Tyler Paul, Akito Okui (c), Amanaki Saumaki, Shuntato Kitamura, Ichigo Nakakusu, Halatoa Vailea, Siosaia Fifita, Yuya Hirose, Kazuma Ueda, Yoshitaka Yazaki<\/p>\n
Replacements: Shoma Sagawa, Yuichiro Taniguchi, Yuta Kokaji, Shohei Ito, Rikuro Nakaya, Asahi Doei, Shinya Koumra, Kotaro Ito<\/p>\n
Referee: Morgan White (HKCR)<\/p>\n
HOW TO WATCH AUSTRALIA A v JAPAN XV<\/p>\n
Australia A’s clash with Japan XV will be shown LIVE on Stan Sport<\/p>\n
Coverage will be live and ad-free on Stan Sport, slated to start at 2:50 pm (AEDT) with kickoff expected at 3:00 pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIVE: A host of Test hopefuls will get their chance to impress as Australia A take on Japan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,124907,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-221821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australia-a","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}