Jones looks to create Japan history in Cardiff

There will be a Welsh influence in the Japan coaching staff again with former Wales flanker and Dragons coach Kingsley Jones having been drafted in by his namesake.Kingsley Jones was part of the Japan backroom staff for the 1-1 series draw with Wales in July 2025."He's been in camp for four days and I don't think he's stopped talking the whole time! We're lacking a bit of oxygen in the camp at the moment," said Eddie Jones."He's a good mate of mine and we like to catch up. He's in camp, just watching what we're doing and feeding back on how we can improve."Jones says he knows what to expect from Wales after Steve Tandy named his side."They have a lot of caps now and that brings experience - particularly around the set-piece," he said."We know they'll target us in the set-piece and potentially in the air and they've created a strong identity for themselves and Steve has done a very good job."That strong mauling, goal-line attack team with a high kicking game and they've developed a lot more robustness."Jones says Japan's job is to "break Wales open"."We play the opposite sort of rugby from Wales," he said."We want to break the game open, move the ball to the space quickly and probably take a few more risks than Wales play."It's a good contrast of styles. Both of us are trying to impose each other's style on them. The first 20 minutes of the game is going to be pretty important."Japan have handed a debut to fly-half Riku Kitahara as part of a half-back pairing with co-captain Naoto Saito.Kitahara starts with Ryunosuke Ito unavailable because of his commitments for his university in Japan.The rest of the backline features Samisoni Tua and Dylan Riley in the centres, wings Inoke Burua and Kippei Ishida and Kazuma Ueda at full-back.Mamoru Harada packs down at hooker with props Yota Kamimori and Shuhei Takeuchi either side of him, while Harry Hockings and co-captain Warner Dearns make up the second row.Jack Cornelsen is named at number eight in a back row with Ben Gunter and Kanji Shimokawa.Japan: Ueda; Ishida, Riley, Tua, Burua; Kitahara, Saito (co-capt); Kamimori, Harada, Takeuchi, Hockings, Dearns (co-capt), Gunter, Shimokawa, Cornelsen.Replacements: Sato, Otsuka, Helu, Stolberg, Costley, Fukuda, Komura, Lee.