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In the third match of Pool A tournament hosts Japan face Ireland in Shizuoka. The winner of the fixture will go top of the pool and have one foot firmly in the Quarter Finals.
Japan Head Coach Jamie Joseph has called up Amanaki Mafi into the back-row which sees reshuffling. He starts at N8 with Kazuki Himeno moving to flanker and Michael Leitch dropping to the bench. In place of Leitch the captain’s band will be worn by South African Lappies Labuschagne.
Additional changes to the pack see Jiwon Koo starting at tight head; and Luke Thompson replaces Wimpie van der Walt in the second-row. The 38-year-old Thompson is playing in his fourth Rugby World Cup.
In the backs Will Tupou moves from fullback to wing, enabling Ryohei Yamanaka to start at the back. This sees Lomano Lemeki dropping to the bench.
Ireland Head Coach Joe Schmidt has gone for four changes to his starting side, all of which come in the backs. Veterans Rob Kearney and Keith Earls start at fullback and on the wing to join Jacob Stockade in the back-three.
Elsewhere Jack Carty replaces Jonathan Sexton at fly half while Chris Farrell replaces New Zealander Bundee Aki at inside center.
Second-rower Iain Henderson will earn his 50th cap, doing so by partnering James Ryan in the locking the scrum. They will play behind the vastly experienced front-row of Rory Best, Tadhg Furlong, and Cian Healy.
Saturday’s Pool A match is to be the eight match between Japan and Ireland. The Europeans have won all prior seven games, doing so by margins of 16 to 69 points. The most recent match was in June 2017 with Ireland winning 35-13 in Tokyo.
A closer match is expected than that from two years ago. The favorites tag will remain with Ireland who ARN pick to win by 13 points.
TEAMS
JAPAN
1 Keita Inagaki, 2 Shota Horie, 3 Ji-Won Koo, 4 Luke Thompson, 5 James Moore, 6 Kazuki Himeno, 7 Lappies Labuschagne (capt.), 8 Amanaki Mafi, 9 Yutaka Nagare, 10 Yu Tamura, 11 Will Tupou, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 15 Ryohei Yamanaka
Replacements: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Isileli Nakajima, 18 Asaeli Valu, 19 Wimpie van der Walt, 20 Michael Leitch, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Lomani Lemeki
IRELAND
1 Cian Healy, 2 Rory Best (capt.), 3 Tadhg Furlong, 4 Iain Henderson, 5 James Ryan, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 CJ Stander, 9 Conor Murray, 10 Jack Carty, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 12 Chris Farrell, 13 Garry Ringrose, 14 Keith Earls, 15 Rob Kearney
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 David Kilcoyne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Tadhg Beirne, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Jordan Larmour
Date: Saturday, September 28
Kick-Off: 16:15 pm local, (00:15 Pacific, 03:15 Eastern, 04:15 Rio de la Plata)
Venue: Stadium Ecopa, Shizuoka
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Jerome Garces (France), Matthew Carley (England)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Broadcasts: ESPN 3 (Latin/South American), NBC Sports Gold (USA), TSN 1/4 (Canada)
