Jamie Joseph has announced two changes to Japan’s starting lineup for the Pool D match against Samoa on Thursday.
Joseph has made two changes to his starting XV from their 34-12 loss against England both in the back-line with Dylan Riley replacing Tomoki Osada in the centres and Lomano Lemeki replacing Semisi Masiresa at fullback.
There are four players in this team who will play Samoa at the Rugby World Cup for the third time – Shota Horie, Keita Inagaki, Michael Leitch and Kotaro Matsushima all played against them at both RWC 2015 and 2019.
Lemeki will make his first start since 23 October, 2021 against Australia. He played 74 minutes off the bench last game against England, making the second-most carry metres past the gain-line for Japan (54).
Japan — 15 Lomano Lemeki; 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 11 Jone Naikabula; 10 Rikiya Matsuda, 9 Yutaka Nagare; 8 Kazuki Himeno (c), 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Michael Leitch; 5 Amato Fakatava, 4 Jack Cornelsen; 3 Jiwon Gu, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki.
Subs: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Craig Millar, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Warner Dearns, 20 Kanji Shimokawa, 21 Naoto Saito, 22 Seungsin Lee, 23 Tomoki Osada.
Photo: CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP