HADLEIGH Parkes has spent his first season in Japan marvelling at the skill of the country’s domestic players and believes Jamie Joseph’s side can scare the British & Irish Lions this summer.
Players from the two sides who contested the Top League final, Suntory Sungoliath and victors Panasonic Wild Knights, will form the core of the Japan squad which will face Warren Gatland’s Lions in Edinburgh on June 26 before a meeting with Ireland a week later.
Parkes, 33, told The Rugby Paper from the Far East: “Japan have proved in the last two World Cups how good they are and how well they can...