Yoshihito Yoshida, the pin-up boy of Japanese rugby, has won his place back in the side to meet Hong Kong tomorrow in the 'home' game of the Pacific Rim Championship at Aberdeen Stadium. The flying winger, who was dropped for the opening game in Tokyo which Japan narrowly won 34-27, is one of two changes forced on the Japan camp through injury. The other new face in the side is 21-year-old lock forward Yasunori Watanabe who will be earning his first cap. He comes in for World Cup veteran Yoshihiko Sakuraba. All eyes however, will be on Yoshida. The player with film star looks - he is mobbed in Japan by adoring teenage girls - was dropped for the first game because the selectors felt that he had lost the form which had seen him become a mainstay in the side since 1990.

The 27-year-old Yoshida has played in the past two World Cups and won more than 30 caps for Japan. But with a new broom sweeping through Japanese rugby in the form of new coach Iwao Yamamoto, Yoshida found himself out of favour. But an injury to Terunori Masuho has given Yoshida another chance. 'This is Yoshida's opportunity to win his place back in the team. He was dropped because of poor form,' said Japan's backline coach, former Wallaby Glen Ella. Ella and former Randwick hooker Edward Jones are the Australian guiding force behind Japan's play. The duo have been hired by the Japanese Rugby Football Union to try and infuse fresh confidence after last year's World Cup debacle in South Africa where the Japanese lost all their games including a record rout by the All Blacks.

Both Ella and Jones, who looks after the forwards, are attempting to use traditional Japanese strengths of handling and swift running with a more common sense tactical approach. A key member of their set-up is Japan's new number eight Takeomi Itoh. The Kobe Steel forward won his first international cap last Saturday against Hong Kong and has already earned the respect of his opponents - he was unanimously named Japan's Man of the Match by the Hong Kong team. Itoh is not a traditional number eight in that he is not tall or big. But he makes up for his lack of inches in his superior work rate, speed to the breakdown and superb support play.