Japan V Somoa, Japan coach Jamie Joseph has named his team for the Pool A match against Samoa at City of Toyota Stadium on Saturday.
- Japan have made three changes to the starting XV that defeated Ireland.
- Atsushi Sakate, Wimpie van der Walt and Michael Leitch all come into the starting line-up at the expense of Shota Horie, Luke Thompson and Amanaki Mafi.
- Luke Thompson is not in the match-day 23. On 12 RWC matches, he is tied with Hirotoki Onozawa for the team record of World Cup matches. Michael Leitch will be featuring in his 11th.
- Shota Horie drops to the bench after being named Player of the Match against Ireland.
- Kenki Fukuoka, who scored Japan’s only try against Ireland as a replacement will once again wear shirt number 23.
Japan Squad for Japan V Samoa
1. Keita Inagaki
2. Atsushi Sakate
3. Jiwon Koo
4. Wimpie van der Walt
5. James Moore
6. Michael Leitch
7. Pieter Labuschagne (capt.)
8. Kazuki Himeno
9. Yutaka Nagare
10. Yu Tamura
11. Lomano Lava Lemeki
12. Ryoto Nakamura
13. Timothy Lafaele
14. Kotaro Matsushima
15. Ryohei Yamanaka
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
