Japan points machine joins Feinberg-Mngomezulu in missing Nations Championship

Japan will be without star fly-half, Seungsin Lee, for the Nations Championship after head coach Eddie Jones confirmed he needs surgery on an undisclosed injury.

It means the two leading points scorers in international rugby in 2025 are now sidelined for the inuaugural global competition.

Lee barely missed a kick at goal on his way to amassing 122 points – two more than Springbok star, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who will also sit out the July internationals after picking up an ankle injury in the Stormers’ URC quarter-final win over Cardiff.

The 25-year-old started all 11 of Japan’s Tests in 2025 and had a goal-kicking strike rate of 88%.

Lee was in deadly form once again in Sunday’s JRLO Championship final, as he kicked five penalties and a conversion to help the Kobelco Kobe Steelers win their third Japanese title.

He played the full 80 minutes in the 22-13 win over Kubota Spears, but was one of 14 players listed by the Japan RFU as unavailable due to injury when the Brave Blossoms’ training squad was announced for the upcoming Nations Championship.

“Lee probably needs an operation which will put him out of action for a while. We’re looking for 10s who are really good at attacking the line,” Jones told rugbyjp.com.

“We want to play with tempo. When there’s chance to speed up the game that’s what we want to do. We’re looking for 10s who understand the flow of the game.”

 

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Japan face Italy at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo on 4 July before heading to Newcastle, Australia, a week later for a match against Ireland. The Brave Blossoms will then return to Tokyo to take on France, at the Olympic Stadium, in the final round of the Nations Championship on 18 July.

Meanwhile, Jones, who will complete his four-match suspension for match official abuse after the Italy game, has yet to publicly declare his captain.

However, Hurricanes lock Warner Dearns looks favourite to continue to wear the armband after succeeding 92-cap veteran Michael Leitch in the role. Leitch, 37, has been named in the training squad, though.

Speaking about the captaincy, Jones said: “We’ll wait until we get the whole squad in before making a decision about that.

“Warner Dearns has been absolutely outstanding in Super Rugby. He’s playing with good players, he’s in the strongest Super Rugby team, and that’ll make him a better player.

“Michael Leitch doesn’t need to be the captain to be a leader. We’ll wait and see what Warner is like when he comes back.”

As many as 10 new caps have been selected in a training squad which has 398 caps combined. An additional 21 players will join the main group from 13 June.