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On Saturday RWC 2019 tournament hosts Japan look to edge closer to the Quarter Finals. The Japanese will take-on Samoa at the City of Toyota Stadium in Aichi
Following Saturday’s win over Ireland in Shizuoka Japanese rugby is at an all-time high. A win over Samoa would take Japan to a minimum of 13 points in the table. At present Japan has 9 and Ireland 11, though the Irish have played one more match.
Head Coach Jamie Joseph has recalled Michael Leitch to the side though the captaiin is going to be Lappies Labuschagne. The pairing will be the flankers with Kazuki Himeno completing the back-row at N8.
Up front Atsushi Sakate will start at hooker in his RWC debut appearance. He replaces Shota Horie who was man of the match against Ireland. The final alteration sees Luke Thompson replaced by Wimpie van der Walt in the second-row.
Samoa Head Coach Steve Jackson has made six changes. Samoa are coming off a humiliating loss against Scotland, a match in which they failed to score a point.
Earning their first starts of the tournament are loose head prop Jordan Lay; hooker Seilala Lam; second-rower Piula Faasalele; fly half Ulupano Seuteni, and fullback Ah See Tuala.
The fixture is a repeat of the RWC 2015 game in Milton Keynes. On that occasion Japan completed a comprehensive win to add to their earlier win in the competition against South Africa.
Historically Samoa is there superior team. In 2019, however Japan is clearly better than Samoa. There have been 15 prior test matches with Samoa winning 11 of them. Japan’s four wins came in 1999, 2010, 2014, and the most recent match which was at RWC 2015.
Japan enter as favorites to win and to collect the bonus point. Such a result would see Japan leading Pool A with 14 competition points and would eliminate Samoa from Quarter Final contention.
TEAMS
JAPAN
1 Keita Inagaki, 2 Atsushi Sakate, 3 Jiwon Koo, 4 Wimpie van der Walt, 5 James Moore, 6 Michael Leitch, 7 Lappies Labuschagne (capt.), 8 Kazuki Himeno, 9 Yutaka Nagare, 10 Yu Tamura, 11 Lomano Lemeki, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 15 Ryohei Yamanaka
Replacements: 16 Shota Horie, 17 Isileli Nakajima, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Uwe Helu, 20 Hendrik Tui, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Kenki Fukuoka
SAMOA
1 Jordan Lay, 2 Seilala Lam, 3 Michael Alaalatoa, 4 Piula Faasalel, 5 Kane Le’aupepe, 6 Chris Vui, 7 TJ Ioane, 8 Jack Lam (capt.), 9 Dwayne Polataivao, 10 Ulupano Seuteni, 11 Ed Fidow, 12 Henry Taefu, 13 Alapati Leiua, 14 Ah See Tuala, 15 Tim Nanai-Williams
Replacements: 16. Ray Niuia, 17 Paul Alo-Emile, 18 James Lay, 19 Senio Toleafoa, 20 Josh Tyrell, 21 Pele Cowley, 22 Tusi Pisi, 23 Kieron Fonotia
Date: Saturday, October 05
Kick-Off: 19:30 local (03:30 Pacific, 06:30 Eastern, 07:30 Rio de la Plata)
Venue: City of Toyota Stadium, Aichi
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistants: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
