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BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Japan v Wales preview, teams and how to follow
Summer tour first Test: Japan v WalesVenue: Mikuni World Stadium, Kitakyushu Date: Saturday, 5 July Kick-off: 06:00 BSTCoverage: Watch live on BBC One Wales and BBC iPlayer; listen live on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru & BBC Sounds; text commentary and highlights on BBC Sport website and app. Japan will host Wales in a two-match series that starts in Kitakyushu on Saturday and will finish in Kobe seven days head coach Matt Sherratt is in caretaker charge again having taken over from Warren Gatland during the Six Nations Championship in February with the Welsh Rugby Union's hunt for a permanent successor are seeking to end a record run of 17 consecutive Test defeats that stretches back to October are coached by Eddie Jones who is starting the second year of his second stint with the Brave have won four games and lost eight since Jones came back, and were beaten by 40 points or more by New Zealand, France and England in though, was the coach when Japan secured their only victory in 14 attempts against Wales in 2013. Where is the match being played? The first match is being played at Mikuni World Stadium which opened in 2017 and is normally home to third division football side Giravanz was the city that took Gatland's side to its hearts in 2019 when Wales chose it as its World Cup training base. Six years ago, the Mikuni World Stadium venue was where more than 15,000 locals packed into so they could watch Wales train, with the adopted home fans producing a rousing rendition of the Welsh national time Wales will play its first Test match at the venue that will host only its second international after Japan entertained Uruguay in 2022. How can I follow the game on BBC Sport? You cam watch the game live live on BBC One Wales and BBC iPlayer or listen live on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru & BBC Sounds with kick-off at 06:00 can follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app, with build-up starting from 05:30 will also be post-match reaction and analysis online and via BBC Radio Wales and the Scrum V podcast. How hot and humid will it be? Wales and Japan will be given water breaks and an extended half-time period to help the two sides deal with the heat and humidity in Kitakyushu on match is being played at 14:00 local time with temperatures expected to reach 33C, while there will also be a high level of will be a three-minute break midway through each half, while half-time will be extended to 20 minutes from the original 15 measures are being taken under World Rugby's updated heat and air quality guidelines, which set out the measures to be taken to support players performing in hot half-time extension is the second most severe reading with the next step being to consider "delaying or suspending the game". Japan and Wales team news Sherratt has made 11 changes from the side humbled 68-14 by England in the Six Nations in eight Taulupe Faletau, prop Nicky Smith, centre Ben Thomas and full-back Blair Murray are the survivors from that record Cardiff Josh Macleod and Alex Mann are handed recalls, while centre Johnny Williams also returns. Scarlets captain Macleod makes his first Wales appearance since November 2022, while Williams' previous involvement came in September Hardy and Sam Costelow form a new half-back partnership, while Dragons lock Ben Carter returns after missing the Six Nations because of Cardiff captain Liam Belcher could make his international debut from the replacements bench if he comes on for hooker Dewi Lake, who skippers the is one of six Wales forwards on the bench including Tommy Reffell and Aron has named an inexperienced Japan team featuring two uncapped players in the starting line-up and another six on the Japan's new caps will be the diminutive wing Kippei Ishida, who Jones said "can be a Japanese version" of South Africa World Cup winner Cheslin Kolbe, while prop Yota Kamimori also starts for the first flanker Michael Leitch will captain the team in his 88th cap, with Japan regulars Warner Dearns, Dylan Riley and Seungsin Lee also in the starting side. Line-ups Japan: Takuro Matsunaga; Kippei Ishida, Dylan Riley, Shogo Nakano, Malo Tuitama; Seungsin Lee, Shinobu Fujiwara; Yota Kamimori, Mamoru Harada, Shuhei Takeuchi, Epineri Uluiviti, Warner Deans, Michael Leitch (capt), Jack Cornelsen, Amato Hayate Era, Sena Kimura, Keijiro Tamefusa, Waisake Raratubua, Ben Gunter, Shuntaro Kitamura, Ichigo Nakakusu, Halatoa Blair Murray; Tom Rogers, Johnny Williams, Ben Thomas, Josh Adams; Sam Costelow, Kieran Hardy; Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake (capt), Keiron Assiratti, Ben Carter, Teddy Williams, Alex Mann, Josh Macleod, Taulupe Liam Belcher, Gareth Thomas, Archie Griffin, James Ratti, Aaron Wainwright, Tommy Reffell, Rhodri Williams, Joe Damian Schneider (Argentina)Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England) & Luke Pearce (England)Television match official (TMO): Ian Tempest (England).
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Kuhn to Como 'great business' for Celtic
Brendan Rodgers has confirmed Celtic winger Nicolas Kuhn is poised to join Serie A side Como, with the manager calling it "great business all round".The 25-year-old, capped by Germany up to under-20 level, joined the Scottish champions from Rapid Vienna in January last made 41 starts and 10 substitute appearances for Celtic last season, scoring 21 goals."We've virtually agreed between the club and Como so it looks at this point that he'll be on his way, but we just have to wait for confirmation," said Rodgers after a 1-0 friendly win over Queen's paid a fee in the region of £3m for Kuhn, with reports suggesting Como will pay more than five times that amount."I think it's very clear, the model of Celtic," added Rodgers. "In the 18 months he's done absolutely fantastic for us. He was aware of interest towards the end of last season and that sort of followed through."Other teams have joined in that interest over the summer and that's why a lot of the young players come. It's a wonderful, brilliant club to come to develop and improve."If he does end up going and signing for Como, then it's great business all round." Nawrocki heading for Hannover Rodgers also revealed that central defender Maik Nawrocki is moving to German second-tier side Hannover on a season-long 24-year-old Pole has managed just 18 appearances for Celtic since joining from Legia Warsaw in the summer of 2023."Maik's never really consistently been able to stay fit and really take that spot," explained Rodgers. "He's had a couple of years where he hasn't quite got the games that he would have liked. So it's important that he goes out and plays."
Telegraph
5 hours ago
- Telegraph
Erasmus hits back at Gatland: We did not spy on Lions...Wales spied on us
Rassie Erasmus, South Africa's two-time World Cup-winning coach, has hit back at Warren Gatland's accusations that the Springboks spied on the Lions in 2021, claiming Wales employed similar tactics later that same year. Writing exclusively for Telegraph Sport, Gatland on Friday revealed how the Lions believed Erasmus and his South Africa coaching staff had access to the Lions' calls and tactics on the 2021 Covid-affected tour, which had been obtained by spying. Gatland explained how a photographer had managed to take a picture of Erasmus on the pitch during the first Test holding a piece of paper which contained several of the Lions' calls. But later on Friday Erasmus responded with a series of tweets on the X platform, saying that the piece of paper actually contained words in Afrikaans linked to South Africa's own game plan. 'Damn, they manage [sic] to decipher our Afrikaans game plan! Kudos to you! Great spying,' Erasmus, who led South Africa to back-to-back World Cups in 2019 and 2023, wrote. Erasmus went on to accuse Wales of similar tactics in the autumn of 2021, although Gatland had not rejoined the principality as coach at that stage. The Springboks were forced to evacuate their Cardiff hotel twice overnight before their match with Wales, and Erasmus claims that when they were safely allowed to return sensitive information had been taken. 'I hear from a source from within the Wales [sic] camp that whilst we were evacuated all our notes and plans were photographed and the white board sheets taken,' Erasmus said. 'We were again forced at around 06h00 for [sic] another evacuation!!' Gatland wrote how the Lions' suspicions grew in the first Test, 'when Lukhanyo Am hit Elliot Daly with a massive man-and-ball tackle, reading a move that we had not used before during the tour matches'. Erasmus also addressed that accusation in a third tweet: 'Lukie [Am] dit [sic] really well to read that one skip pass (we call that a 100) Exceptional read to see the one skip pas [sic] and make the tackle!' In another tweet Erasmus appeared to suggest the Lions broke covid rules when he said 'not all sources are credible' along with a picture of South Africa's curfew restrictions during the Lions tour.
