August 16 2017
Australia Faces Japan for Knockout Seeds at #WRWC2017
Photo: INPHO/Oisin Keniry (Australia centre Sarah Riordan is tackled by Audrey Forlani)
Doug Coil
Australia and Japan will look for their first win at Billings Park UCD at 17:00 local (12:00pm ET). Both teams will also be trying for bonus points as knockout seeds are at stake.
In the opening matches for both sides, Australia lost 19-17 to the Ireland, while Japan lost 72-14 to France. In the second round, Australia lost 48-0 to France, while Japan lost 24-14 to Ireland.
Point differential will likely impact determining the knockout seeds, so Australia after two rounds is a minus 50 and Japan a minus 68.
The match is being streamed in other countries on http://www.rwcwomens.com
In Australia, they takes on Japan on Friday morning, kicking off at 2am AEST LIVE on Fox Sports. In Japan, live coverage will be on J Sports and highlights will be shown on Fuji TV.
Australia
Wallaroos captain Shannon Parry has been ruled out of the final pool match against Japan with an injury. She is a key player and will be missed at flanker. Sharni Williams, the Sevens co-captain, will captain the side at outside center.
The Parry injury, has necessitated forward changes. Chloe Butler switches from lock to openside flanker with Alisha Hewett coming into the starting second row.
In the backs, Sarah Riordan will assume a playmaking role at flyhalf with Kayla Sauvao starting at inside centre and Trilleen Pomare moving to the reserves.
Australia’s team is still largely the same 23 players that played against France. The other exception in Louise Burrows who will sit out for this match. Kate Brown and Violeta Tupuola enter as reserves.
Japan showed that they can not be taken lightly, as they had a 14-0 lead over Ireland at halftime and pressured Ireland for the remainder of the match.
While semi-finals are out of the question, the Wallaroos and Japan will be fighting to stay in the fifth-to-eighth play off bracket, to give them their highest possible finish outside of finals.
Japan
Japan will look to carry the momentum from their 24-14 loss to Ireland to the match against Australia. They have made only two changes from from that match, as Aya Nakajima is at the second row and Akari Kato starts for the first time at wing. The other change had Eriko Hirano switching sides as a wing.
Japan used speed and excellent set pieces to pressure Ireland all match. Japan will need to do this again if they are to look to win.
Australia v Japan: 1. Liz Patu 2. Cheyenne Campbell 3. Hilisha Samoa 4. Alisha Hewett 5. Millie Boyle 6. Mollie Gray 7. Chloe Butler 8. Grace Hamilton 9. Katrina Barker 10. Sarah Riordan 11. Mahalia Murphy 12. Kayla Sauvao 13. Sharni Williams 14. Nareta Marsters 15. Samantha Treherne 16. Emily Robinson 17. Violeta Tupuola 18. Hana Ngaha 19. Rebecca Clough 20. Kate Brown 21. Fenella Hake 22. Ashleigh Timoko 23. Trilleen Pomare
Japan v Australia: 1 Makoto Ebuchi 2 Seina Saito (C) 3 Saki Minami 4 Aya Nakajima 5 Ayano Sakurai 6 Yuki Sue 7 Ayaka Suzuki 8 Maki Takano 9 Moe Tsukui 10 Minori Yamamoto 11 Eriko Hirano 12 Riho Kurogi 13 Iroha Nagata 14 Akari Kato 15 Mayu Shimizu 16 Misaki Suzuki 17 Mizuho Kataoka 18 Maiko Fujimoto 19 Ai Hyygaji 20 Yui Shiozaki 20 21 Yumeno Noda 22 Ayaka Suzuki 23 Ai Tasaka
