Charlie Lawrence replaces Shogo Nakano at centre while Kenji Sato will play at hooker in place of Hayate Era in the two alterations to the side that suffered a narrow 19-15 defeat in Tokyo last weekend.
Michael Leitch captains the side as he did against South Africa in their Rugby World Cup shock in Brighton in 2015 when Japan upset the Springboks 34-32 in one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history.
Japan team to face South Africa:
(15-1): 15–Yoshitaka Yazaki, 14–Kippei Ishida, 13–Dylan Riley, 12–Charlie Lawrence, 11–Tomoki Osada, 10–Lee Seung-sin, 9–Shinobu Fujiwara, 8–Michael Leitch (captain), 7–Kanji Shimokawa, 6–Ben Gunter, 5–Warner Dearns, 4–Jack Cornelsen, 3–Shuhei Takeuchi, 2–Kenji Sato, 1–Kenta Kobayashi
Replacements: 16–Shodai Hirao, 17–Ryosuke Iwaihara, 18–Keijiro Tamefusa, 19–Tyler Paul, 20–Faulua Makisi, 21–Kenta Fukuda, 22–Sam Greene, 23-Tiennan Costley.