Japan and Samoa fight for World Cup survival

Rugby World Cup
  • 7 Months Ago - 2023-09-28 00:00:00
Japan and Samoa face off in the “death zone” in Toulouse on Thursday – both knowing that defeat will leave their World Cup hopes hanging by a thread and that even victory might ultimately not be enough.
Samoa are second in Group D, nine points behind leaders England and ahead of Japan on points differential, but a victory without a bonus points could allow Argentina, who face the group’s whipping boys Chile on Saturday, to jump to second with one round of games to go.
In the last round, Japan face Argentina before Samoa face in-form England, a team they have never beaten.
“This Samoa game is a very important one for us,” Kazuki Himeno, the Japan captain told a press conference speaking in Japanese on Tuesday. “But in this death zone, we knew this was coming.”
For the game in Toulouse on Thursday, Japan start four players who also started victories over Samoa in the last two World Cups: hooker Shota Horie, prop Keita Inagaki, flanker Michael Leitch and winger Kotaro Matsushima.
Japan won 26-5 in Milton Keynes in 2015. The Brave Blossoms also beat South Africa that year, but, despite winning three games out of four, finished third in the group because they picked up no bonus points.
– SuperSport/AFP