Jesse Kriel relishing familiar rivalry as Boks prepare for Japan Test at Wembley

Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus has named nine players in the matchday 23 who are currently contracted to Japanese clubs.

Kriel, who has spent almost seven years in Japan playing for the Yokohama Canon Eagles in the Japan Rugby League One, says it’ll be special to line up against players he regularly competes with, but this time in the green and gold.

"Playing against a lot of familiar faces, I've been over in Japan, going on seven years now and yeah, I think it will be good to play against some teammates there but also a lot of familiar faces. It's just nice to do it with the Springboks at the highest level, so I'm very excited about that," Kriel said.

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Kick-off for the match is at 18:10 South African time.

The fixture falls outside World Rugby’s official Test window, meaning South African players based in Europe are unavailable for selection.

Erasmus earlier confirmed that the match was strategically scheduled to give Japan-based Boks valuable game time ahead of their end-of-year tour to Europe.

Kriel says fans can expect a fiery contest, with players eager to make a statement against their club teammates.

"Definitely, I think guys know what the guys' tendencies are and how they play the game, so I think for us technically we'll have to be at our best and obviously try to stop what they bring to the game. So, very exciting in that aspect," he added.

Kriel has warned that Japan will be no pushover. South Africans still remember the historic 34–32 defeat to the Brave Blossoms at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in Brighton.

He says one of the keys to success will be disrupting Japan’s rhythm and slowing down their quick ball at the breakdown.

"Japanes rugby in general wanna play at a very high tempo and high speed, so get the ball out as quickly as they can and kind of beat you with tempo. So, it will be important for us to slow their ball down and not give them what they want. So, I think that's a big focus for us and something that we're trying to do throughout the 80 minutes."