Japan holds a special place in the heart of Damian de Allende, who has spent a number of seasons playing club rugby in that part of the world, and the experienced Springbok centre said he was very excited to line up against some of his Wild Knights teammates in London on Saturday.
De Allende said that the midfield battle will be one of the highlights of the test against Japan.
I've played against Charlie Lawrence a few times in Japan now, and it's always a great battle. He's very quick and powerful and very strong in his feet, and then obviously Dylan Riley, I played with him in Japan at the Panasonic Wild Knights, and he's also deceptively fast and he's strong.”
“I'm looking forward to that challenge in the centre. It's going to be good, it's going to be fast and intense, but it's going to be physical as well, and that's what I like.”
De Allende said that a win against Japan is important to set the tone for the rest of the tour. “It's the most important game of the tour so far. It's the first game, and we'll take it week by week. We won't focus too far ahead, and we'll take this challenge head-on.”
“We will take that week by week. Like I said, we can't focus on France now, we've got a very big test match against Japan, and we'll prepare like we prepare against any other nation that we play against, and we'll give them all the respect they deserve, and we'll put everything into this test match, like we always do.”