South African utility forward Tyler Paul has been named on the bench for Japan’s Test against the Springboks at Wembley on Saturday.

The 30-year-old made his Test debut as a 71st-minute substitute in the 19-15 loss to the Wallabies in Tokyo last weekend.

Paul played for Eastern Province and the Sharks, before heading to Japan in 2021. He has since represented the NTT Red Hurricanes, Urayasu D-Rocks and Kubota Spears, and qualifies for Japan on residency grounds.

Japan’s starting front row for Saturday features loosehead prop Kenta Kobayashi, hooker Kenji Sato – who replaces the injured Hayato Era – and tighthead prop Shuhei Takeuchi.

Captain Werner Deans and Jack Cornelsen will again combine in the second row, while the back row remains unchanged with Ben Gunter at blindside flank, Koji Shimokawa on the openside and Michael Leitch continuing at No 8.

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The halfback pairing of Shinobu Fujiwara and Lee Seung-shin is retained. In midfield, Charlie Lawrence replaces the injured Masago Nakano at inside centre and will partner Dylan Riley.

The back three is unchanged, with Tomoki Nagata on the left wing, Yoshihira Ishida on the right and Yoshitaka Yazaki at fullback.

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JAPAN – 15 Yoshitaka Yazaki, 14 Kippei Ishida, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Charlie Lawrence, 11 Tomoki Osada, 10 Seungsin Lee, 9 Shinobu Fujiwara, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 6 Ben Gunter, 5 Warner Dearns (c), 4 Jack Cornelsen, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Kenji Sato, 1 Kenta Kobayashi.
Bench: 16 Shodai Hirao, 17 Ryosuke Iwaihara, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Tyler Paul, 20 Faulua Makisi, 21 Kenta Fukuda, 22 Sam Greene, 23 Tiennan Costley.

Weekend teams

Photo: Kenta Harada/Getty Images