Japan v Wales preview, teams and how to follow

Summer tour second Test: Japan v Wales

Venue: Noevir (Misaki Park) Stadium, Kobe Date: Saturday, 12 July Kick-off: 06:50 BST

Coverage: Watch live on S4C and BBC iPlayer; listen live on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru & BBC Sounds; text commentary and highlights on BBC Sport website and app.

Wales will finish their desperate season in Kobe on Saturday hoping to record a first Test victory in 644 days.

The tourists face the Brave Blossoms under the closed roof at Noevir Stadium desperate to gain revenge for last weekend's 24-19 defeat in Kitakyushu, in which they led 19-7 with 20 minutes remaining.

That represented an 18th successive defeat with Wales' previous victory coming 21 months ago when they defeated Georgia in the World Cup in Nantes in October 2023.

Wales could set a new record losing streak for a tier one side if they slip to a 19th loss and surpass the sequence of France between 1911 and 1920.

Eddie Jones' Japan, expertly led by captain Michael Leitch, are looking to create their own history by recording back-to-back wins against a tier one nation for the first time and also gain a first 2-0 series win against Wales.

Wales' loss to Japan last week saw them slip to a lowest-ever position of 14th in the world rankings with Jones' side leaping to 12th.

The game is being played at the Noevir Stadium in Kobe which has also been called the Kobe City Misaki Park Stadium.

It is the home ground of J1 League football club Vissel Kobe and the rugby union side Kobelco Kobe Steelers.

In 1970, Kobe Central Football Stadium was opened at the site of the Kobe Keirin Track.

It was the first football stadium in Japan to be able to host games at night following the installation of floodlights.

In order to host 2002 Fifa World Cup matches, the stadium was renovated to install a removable roof and increase spectator capacity.

It was opened under the name Kobe Wing Stadium in November 2001 with a capacity of 42,000.

The ground also hosted four group games in the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The stadium now has a capacity of 30,132.

In a word, very. That retractable roof will be closed this weekend and provide testing humid conditions for both sides.

Last week's game was played in 31C with high humidity making ball-handling difficult.

The forecast for Saturday is three degrees hotter and the game will be effectively played in an indoor stadium which means the humidity will rise.

Jones said it was "quite ironic talking about roofs when you're playing against Wales" as he referred to the 26-year debate that has surrounded matches staged at Cardiff's Principality Stadium which also has a roof.

"Having known the goings-on when you go there with England, whether it's going to be open or closed, is it going to rain, is it not going to rain," said Jones.

"All those machinations are the same in every country in the world.

"When we go up in the northern hemisphere, no one turns the heaters on."

Japan coach Jones has again named an inexperienced line-up, with four starters winning their second caps and four uncapped players on the bench.

Scrum-half Naoto Saito, who won the French Top 14 title with Toulouse last month, returns to the starting line-up in place of Shinobu Fujiwara.

Backs Ichigo Nakakusu and Halatoa Vailea, who both scored after coming off the bench to make their debuts in last week's game, are named in the starting side, while prop Keijiro Tamefusa and number eight Faulua Makisi are also included.

Wales interim head coach Matt Sherratt has made four changes to his starting line-up, with Ospreys fly-half Dan Edwards being given a first international start instead of Sam Costelow.

Number eight Aaron Wainwright replaces the experienced Taulupe Faletau, who has not recovered from heat-related cramps.

Gloucester's Freddie Thomas comes in at lock after Ben Carter was ruled out following a head injury in the first minute of last week's game.

Bath's Archie Griffin takes over at tight-head prop from Keiron Assiratti in a side again captained by hooker Dewi Lake.

Uncapped trio Chris Coleman, Reuben Morgan-Williams and Keelan Giles are all named on the bench.

Japan: Ichigo Nakakusu; Kippei Ishida, Dylan Riley, Shogo Nakano, Halatoa Vailea; Seungsin Lee, Naito Sato; Yota Kamimori, Mamoru Harada, Keijiro Tamefusa, Epineri Uluiviti, Warner Deans, Michael Leitch (capt), Jack Cornelsen, Faulua Makisi.

Replacements: Hayate Era, Sena Kimura, Shuhei Takeuchi, Waisake Raratubua, Ben Gunter, Shinobu Fujiwara, Sam Greene, Kazema Ueda.

Wales: Blair Murray; Tom Rogers, Johnny Williams, Ben Thomas, Josh Adams; Dan Edwards, Kieran Hardy; Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake (capt), Archie Griffin, Freddie Thomas, Teddy Williams, Alex Mann, Josh Macleod, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: Liam Belcher, Gareth Thomas, Chris Coleman, James Ratti, Taine Plumtree, Tommy Reffell, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Keelan Giles.

Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)

Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (RFU), Damian Schneider (UAR)

Television Match Official (TMO): Glenn Newman (NZR)

Japan head coach Eddie Jones: "Japan has never had a record of beating a top-tier team back-to-back so we've got a chance to create history," said Jones, who again named Michael Leitch as captain after an outstanding display from the 36-year-old last week.

"But the more important thing for us is that we know we can play better.

"We played well in the first game but we know we're going to have to play with more intensity, more effort, execute our plays."

Wales interim head coach Matt Sherratt: "It was a tough changing room in Kitayushu after the boys had put so much into the week that what I didn't want to do was get them back in Monday and almost re-open the wounds, so we had two days off," he said.

"First and foremost, I think that was probably the most important thing, and then we showed them the score at 60 minutes, which was 19-7 to us.

"We didn't get enough set-piece in quality positions from 20 minutes on, so we were just factual and said if we can do that, then we've got a chance of winning the game."

You can watch the game live on S4C and BBC iPlayer or listen live on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Sounds with kick-off at 06:50 BST.

You can follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app.

There will also be post-match reaction and analysis online and via BBC Radio Wales and the Scrum V podcast.