September 22, 2015
Rugby World Cup Lineups Scotland vs. Japan Sep 23, 2015
Doug Coil
Scotland v Japan, Pool B, Kingsholm, Gloucester, Kickoff 14:30 – 9:30am ET
Referee: John Lacey; Ass’t Ref: George Clancy, Marius, Mitrea; TV Match Official: Shaun Veldsmen
For Scotland, this is their first Rugby World Cup 2015 match. They are one of Scotland’s youngest teams to play in this event, with an average age of just under 27. They are also the least experienced team since 2007 with a total of 444 caps. For 12 of the 15 starters, it is their first Rugby World Cup.
Scotland has to hope that the physical match played by Japan against South Africa took it’s toll. They will be anxious to take the pitch and expect a wide open match. It should be exciting.
Japan has made 6 changes in their starting lineup form Saturday. Props Inagaki and Yamashita, Lock Thompson and number 8, Mafi are starters. The backs include Fukuoka and Tamura. Tatekaswa moves from Center to Flyhalf and Matsushima to Wing.
The team selected will have less experience than the one against South Africa, with players having 484 caps v 574 Saturday. They still have Goromaru, who is one of the most accurate kickers in the game.
In looking at Japan’s reserves, it seems as if they are expecting a battle in the forwards. They can replace the tight five and likely will.
Scotland Ranked 12th: HC Vern Cotter Starters: 1 Alasdair Dickinson 2 Ross Ford 3 WP Nel 4 Grant Gilchrist 5 Jonny Gray 6 Ryan Wilson 7 John Hardie 8 Dave Denton 9 Greig Laidlaw (c) 10 Finn Russell 11 Sean Lamont 12 Matt Scott 13 Mark Bennett 14 Tommy Seymour 15 Stuart Hogg Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown (H) 17 Ryan Grant (P) 18 Jon Welsh (P) 19 Richie Gray (L) 20 Josh Strauss (8) 21 Henry Pyrgos (SH) 22 Pete Horne (C) 23 Sean Maitland (W)
Japan Ranked 11th: HC Eddie Jones Starters: 1 Keita Inagaki 2 Shota Horie 3 Hiroshi Yamashita 4 Luke Thompson 5 Justin Ives 6 Michael Leitch (c) 7 Michael Broadhurst 8 Amanaki Lelei Mafi 9 Fumiaki Tanaka 10 Harumichi Tatekawa 11 Kenki Fukuoka 12 Yu Tamura 13 Male Sau 14 Kotaro Matsushima 15 Ayumu Goromaru Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu (H) 17 Masataka Mikami (P) 18 Kensuke Hatakeyama (P) 19 Shinya Makabe (L) 20 Shoji Ito (L) 21 Hendrik Tui (F) 22 Atsushi Hiwasa (SH) 23 Karne Hesketh (Wing)
