He made four changes to the back division and picked two new starters up front following the narrow defeat by New Zealand.

Injuries and the returns of captain and full-back Gareth Thomas, fly-half Stephen Jones and second row Gareth Llewellyn to their French clubs mean all but one of the changes has been forced on Ruddock.

There are also two positional switches, but this selection also means the coach has been able to pick four players - Colin Charvis, Dafydd Jones, Michael Owen and Gavin Henson - to start every autumn match.

There are also a further four players who faced South Africa in the first Test of the series, Hal Luscombe, Shane Williams, Brent Cockbain and Duncan Jones, meaning Ruddock has plumped for a strong line-up against the Cherry Blossoms.

Ruddock said: The RBS 6 Nations is just around the corner and we need to go into our preparations for the kick-off match against England with a good performance against Japan under our belts.

Each player selected is playing for their jerseys and for a place in the starting line-up against England.

Scrum-half Gareth Cooper replaces Dwayne Peel, who moves to the bench, and Ruddock has brought in Rhys Williams at full-back for Thomas.

Ceri Sweeney renews his regional half-back partnership with Cooper in the absence of Jones.

Sonny Parker is ruled out by a wrist injury, but Hal Luscombe returns from his knee injury to feature on the wing, with Tom Shanklin moving to outside centre to facilitate that change.
Jonathan Thomas replaces Llewellyn at second row, while Adam Jones is down for bench duties, replaced by namesake Duncan who will be joined by Gethin Jenkins in the props.

Weve said all along that we are looking for continuity in both selection and performance throughout the Lloyds TSB Autumn Series and the final Test against Japan is no exception, said Ruddock.

One of our goals was to create cohesion in the team and in the squad as we build to all the RBS 6 Nations.

We will be looking to maintain and improve upon our performances against South Africa, Romania and New Zealand and play with the same high tempo, width and style which is fast becoming our trademark.

We want to finish the series on a high and give the fans more of what they have enjoyed already.

Wales: R Williams; H Luscombe, G Henson, T Shanklin, S Williams; C Sweeney, G Cooper; Duncan Jones, M Davies, G Jenkins, B Cockbain, J Thomas, Dafydd Jones, C Charvis, M Owen.

Replacements: S Jones, A Jones, R Jones, A Popham, M Williams, D Peel, K Morgan.