Rugby World Cup

Winger Selesitino Ravutaumada was the lone change in the Flying Fijians' starting lineup, while Samu Tawake was named on the bench.

Ravutaumada replaced Jiuta Wainiqolo and Tawake came in for Mesake Doge.

Both Wainiqolo and Doge were injured and have been rested.

Fiji head coach Simon Raiwalui kept 14 players in the starting lineup from the team that beat Australia two weekends ago in Saint Etienne, insisting on consistency.

He said Georgia will not be easy, and they have named their team accordingly.

Tries by Pieter Labuschagne, Michael Leitch, Kazuki Himeno and 13 points from the boot of Rikiya Matsuda gave Japan a comprehensive victory as they leapfrogged their opponents into second place in Pool D with nine points.

Samoa, who had Ben Lam red carded early in the second half and answered with tries by Seilala Lam, Duncan Paia’aua and Christian Leali’ifano as well as points from the tee by Alai D’Angelo Leuila and Leali’ifano, are third on six points.

Dylan Riley starts at outside-centre in place of Tomoki Osada and Lomano Lemeki comes in at full-back for the injured Semisi Masiresa, the two changes to his starting 15 from the team that lost to England. 

1 Keita Inagaki 
2 Shota Horie 
3 Jiwon Gu 
4 Jack Cornelsen 
5 Amato Fakatava 
6 Michael Leitch
7 Pieter Labuschagne 
8 Kazuki Himeno (c)
9 Yutaka Nagare 
10 Rikiya Matsuda 
11 Jone Naikabula 
12 Ryoto Nakamura
13 Dylan Riley 
14 Kotaro Matsushima 
15 Lomano Lemeki 

Namibia captain Johan Deysel has been given an effective five match suspension for his dangerous tackle on Antoine Dupont that left the France skipper with a facial fracture,

Former All Black forward Vaea Fifita has been ruled out of the rest of Tonga's campaign after copping a four match ban for dangerously charging into a ruck during the Pacific Islander's loss to Scotland.

Fifita's shoulder collided with Scottish first-five Finn Russell's head in the clumsy cleanout late in the game.

In the back-row, Taleni Seu will feature after an impressive display off the bench last week, covering 25 meters, including 20 meters gained past the gain-line, in just 26 minutes.

Sa Jordan Taufua is set to start as number eight, replacing former All Black Steven Luatua. This marks Taufua’s first start since November 2022, with his test rugby appearances this season limited to under 40 minutes in each of his three caps as a substitute.

Head coach Vaovasamanaia Seilala Mapusua has named Paul-Alo Emile in the front row, Paul Ala'nu'uese at locks and Ben Lam on the wing in the Rugby World Cup battle.

Lock Chris Vui gets to lead the team out with his co-captain and prop Michael Ala'alatoa on the bench.

Samoa needs to win the clash to give them an advantage over the Pumas, who lost their first game to England a fortnight ago.

England has two wins and leads on the points table.

Samoa are second but need the win to give them a better chance of qualifying for the quarterfinals.

The Pacific islanders eventually ran out 43-10 winners over the Chileans but Mapusua said they could not afford a similarly sluggish start on Sunday against the Pumas, who have twice reached the World Cup semi-finals.

"The boys realise that we're in the tournament now, we've arrived at the party and there are no second chances," Mapusua said.

"So this week in the whole squad there's been a real lift and an energy and we know that we've got a huge game against the Pumas on Friday. We won't be short of motivation."

It was Italy's second consecutive bonus-point win and takes them top of Pool A.

Uruguay deservedly led 17-7 at the break and were dreaming of a huge upset after a remarkable opening 40 minutes that began well for Italy, who scored an early try through Lorenzo Pani, but then went badly wrong as poor discipline handed the advantage to the South Americans.

Already a Sevens superpower as champions of the first two Olympic tournaments, the Fijians have played seven tests this season and won five of them with the vanquished including former world champions England, Japan and now Australia. The victory over Australia was their first in 69 years but not a huge surprise to those who have frequently watched the disciplined and well-structured Flying Fijians play this season.

Fiji’s brilliance at the turnover, combined with the clinical boot of Kuruvoli, saw them pick up their first win of the tournament after last week’s defeat by Wales.

Australian full-back Ben Donaldson was opportunistic early on and punished a Fiji high tackle when he converted the first opportunity of the game to give Australia a 3-0 lead after three minutes.

The Pacific Islanders sought a response through scrum-half Kuruvoli, who tied the score before converting another penalty to give his side a 6-3 lead after 20 minutes.