Japan eye RWC as they face regional rivals Hong Kong in Tokyo

Asia Rugby Championship clash a stepping stone for Brave Blossoms coach Eddie Jones as both teams look for improvement

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Japan captain and prop Kensuke Hatakeyama will be a driving force against Hong Kong in their clash in Tokyo. Photo: ARFU

Published: 10:45pm, 1 May 2015Updated: 5:30pm, 2 May 2015

For Japan head coach Eddie Jones, Saturday's Asia Rugby Championship encounter with Hong Kong in Tokyo is one more building block in his preparations for the World Cup in September.

"All these games are stepping stones to the World Cup and hopefully we can keep improving so we reach our peak on September 19," said Jones.

The Australian described Japan's opening 56-30 victory over South Korea a fortnight ago in Incheon as "rusty" and "sloppy" and will be looking for a marked improvement from the Brave Blossoms, who have not lost to Hong Kong since 1998 when the Pac Rim competition was contested.

With Eddie Jones as their coach Japan are clear favourites to win the 2015 Asia Rugby Championship. Photo: Kyodo

Japan have been unbeaten in the past seven years of the Asian Five Nations and are expected to whisk away the revamped three-team championship, played on a home-and-away basis.

"We are not looking at Hong Kong specifically," Jones said. "It is all about wanting to play good rugby and we have picked our best 23 for that. We know Hong Kong will do everything they can to slow the game down.

"But it is about what we want to do. There are certain tactical variations we want to try looking at towards the World Cup."

Japan have made two changes with wing Akihito Yamada and flanker Tsuyoshi Murata taking over from Yoshikazu Fujita and Hayden Hopgood.