Rugby World Cup

The Pacific islanders did themselves no favours in a scrappy game that rarely rose to the levels of excitement generated by the noisy crowd at the boutique-sized ground, with Rey Lee-Lo and Motu Matu'u both shown yellow cards for high tackles.

The pair narrowly escaped being sent off by Romain Poite after television match official Graham Hughes recommended only a yellow card because Russia captain Vasily Artemyev had ducked his head into each tackle.

Hodge felt the brunt of the Fijian runners on a number of occasions and was regularly rag-dolled by the athletic Fijians throughout the Pool D match.

The Wallabies winger managed to unintentionally get one of his own back late in the first half, concussing Yato with a tackle that many have deemed dangerous and worthy of a red card. Fiji subsequently referred the tackle to World Rugby, and Hodge faces a hearing on Wednesday which could potentially end his Rugby World Cup.

Josie Tada, from Samoa, has been living in Japan for the past 26 years and is set to be in the crowd at Kumagaya to watch the must-win clash.

It will be the first time the countries have played against each other.

"My husband is Japanese. He was a Japanese volunteer in Samoa when we met each other, and we got married then came to live in Japan," she said.

The mix of two different cultures took some getting used to, she said.

Just four days into the Rugby World Cup 2019 tournament, the organising committee was forced to change its food policy.

On Monday, it was announced fans would now be able to BYO snacks the size of a bento box, following shortages at various stadium stalls.

The change allowed fans to bring in a "reasonable amount of food" for personal consumption so they didn't go hungry, but the committee explained the strict no drinks policy remained in place.

The Six Nations champions delivered a strong statement of intent less than a week before tackling Pool D rivals Australia as they put Georgia to the sword during a dominant first-half display.

Wales had a bonus point wrapped up by half-time after tries from centre Jonathan Davies, flanker Justin Tipuric, wing Josh Adams and full-back Liam Williams, with fly-half Dan Biggar kicking three conversions and a penalty.

Cheika hit out at his Fiji counterparts and claimed they were insincere in referring Hodge’s tackle after Saturday’s game in Sapporo which has resulted in a citing and a judicial hearing in Tokyo on a day still to be determined.

The first-half tackle prevented a possible try for Fiji and left flanker Peceli Yato concussed.

Fiji players immediately asked for the television match official to review the tackle. The TMO concurred with the referee and his assistant that the tackle did not even warrant a penalty.

The Pacific Islanders begin their campaign on Tuesday and assuming they avoid an upset against Russia, they must get past hosts Japan and eighth-ranked Scotland to progress through Pool A, likely alongside overwhelming favourites Ireland.

Japan looked vulnerable in their opening victory over the surprisingly stubborn Russians and Scotland were disappointing in their 27-3 battering by Ireland on Sunday, potentially putting the Samoans right in the mix.

Tuilagi was awarded the ‘Master Card Player of the Day’ after the 35-3 win against the Tongans in the RWC opener on Sunday.

“It’s going to be a tough game for us. Now we have finished from Tonga. More of our focus is going to be on USA.”

The Samoan-born rugby player said the match against Tongans was tough.

“We know that coming to this game, Tonga was going to be a tough test for us. But we managed to get  five points. That’s a great start for our campaign.”

Cane went for an HIA at halftime in Yokohama, and passed it, but he did not return to the field with his teammates for the second half.

Match officials determined Cane had spent too much time off the field and so could not return, despite passing the concussion test.

According to World Rugby regulations, if a player is unable to return from an HIA after 10 minutes, or directly following the 15 minute halftime break, then he must be replaced.

Flanker O’Mahony and centre Aki failed Head Injury Assessments (HIAs) in Ireland’s stunning 27-3 bonus-point win over Scotland in Yokohama on Sunday.

Head coach Schmidt revealed neither Ireland star was showing any concussion symptoms after their opening Pool A encounter – but was left to lament the coupling of a six-day return-to-play process with the same length of time to his side’s next match.