| Home team | Japan |
| Away team | Italy |
| Venue | Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium |
| Competition | Rugby Nations Championship |
| Kick-off time | 9:40 (UK and Ireland) |
| Watch Live in the UK | ITV |
Japan vs Italy Rugby Nations Championship preview as the sides meet at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
Japan come into the inaugural tournament with a strong finish to their Autumn internationals where they beat Georgia and lost by just a point.
Italy had two wins in the Six Nations and despite losing in the final round to Wales pulled off a historic win over England.
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Japan vs Italy confirmed lineups
| Japan | Italy | ||||
| Forwards | |||||
| Okabe | 1 | Fischetti | |||
| Harada | 2 | Di Bartolomeo | |||
| Takeuchi | 3 | Riccioni | |||
| Hockings | 4 | N Cannone | |||
| Dearns | 5 | Zambonin | |||
| Gunter | 6 | Ortombina | |||
| Shimokawa | 7 | Lamaro | |||
| Cornelsen | 8 | L Cannone | |||
| Backs | |||||
| Saito | 9 | Varney | |||
| Ito | 10 | Garbisi | |||
| Ishida | 11 | Ioane | |||
| Hirose | 12 | Menoncello | |||
| Riley | 13 | Brex | |||
| Ueda | 14 | Faissal | |||
| Matsunaga | 15 | Pani | |||
| Replacements | |||||
| Era | 16 | Lucchesi | |||
| Otsuka | 17 | Spagnolo | |||
| Tamefusa | 18 | Hasa | |||
| Stolberg | 19 | Favretto | |||
| Leitch | 20 | Vintcent | |||
| Costley | 21 | Fusco | |||
| Kamimura | 22 | Marin | |||
| Greene | 23 | Allan | |||
Recent Form:
Japan (Home team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Won | 22nd November 2025 | Friendly | Georgia | 23-25 |
| Loss | 15th November 2025 | Friendly | Wales | 24-23 |
| Loss | 8th November 2025 | Friendly | Ireland | 41-10 |
| Loss | 1st November 2025 | Friendly | Springboks | 61-7 |
| Loss | 25th October 2025 | Friendly | Australia | 15-19 |
Japan finished the Autumn with a win over Georgia. They scored one try but 20 points from the boot of Seung-Sin Lee (six penalties and one conversion), including a last minute penalty to win the game by two points.
Italy (Away team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 14th March 2026 | Six Nations | Wales | 31-17 |
| Won | 7th March 2026 | Six Nations | England | 23-18 |
| Loss | 22nd February 2026 | Six Nations | France | 33-8 |
| Loss | 14th February 2026 | Six Nations | Ireland | 20-13 |
| Won | 7th February 2026 | Six Nations | Scotland | 18-15 |
Italy picked up an impressive two wins during the Six Nations over Scotland and England. They went into the final round of the tournament hoping to pick up a third win over Wales. The you got off to an incredibly slow start and were 31-0 behind after halftime before they scored three tries in the last half an hour.
Japan vs Italy head-to-head record (last five matches):
| Date | Competition | Winner | Score |
| 21st July 2024 | Friendly | Italy | 14-42 |
| 26th August 2023 | Friendly | Italy | 42-21 |
| 16th June 2018 | Friendly | Italy | 22-25 |
| 9th June 2018 | Friendly | Japan | 34-17 |
| 21st June 2014 | Friendly | Japan | 26-23 |
Italy have won the last three, scoring 42 points in the two meetings within the last seven years.
