Japan heroes aim for action replay
Leitch, who took the bold decision to go for the win rather than secure a draw with a penalty kick in the final minute of Saturday's Pool B game, and Goromaru, who scored 24 points against the South Africans, are among the nine starters from that game to be retained by coach Eddie Jones for the Scottish clash.
Jones, who is targeting a quarterfinal spot which would be a first for the 'Brave Blossoms', has only three full days to turn them around against a fresh Scottish side who will be playing their first game of the tournament.
"We do not have a lot of time but we are well prepared. We have made a lot of changes," said 55-year-old Jones.
Chief among those is the freshening up of the front row that destroyed the Springboks trio of Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira, one of the most experienced in world rugby on Saturday.
Props Keita Inagaki and Hiroshi Yamashita come in for Masatake Mikami and Kensuke Hatakeyama, who get some time on the bench after their sterling efforts.
"We are going to try once again to be at our best in terms of gaining ball from the scrum," added Jones, referring to the front row changes.
"If we manage that, then we can get ourselves into contention for the game."
Amanaki Mafi, who was very effective when he came on as a replacement in the second half against the Boks, gets a start at No.8 ahead of Hendrik Tui. In the backline, Harumichi Tatekawa moves from centre to flyhalf with wing Akihito Yamada replaced by Kenki Fukuoka.
Jones, who was announced as Stormers coach on Monday, said there would be no resting on their laurels.
"We did not come here to be one hit wonders. As I have already said, we have two objectives here: reach the quarterfinals and to be the team of the tournament. With that in mind, we have made a successful start," he said with a smile.
Japan: 15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Male Sa'u, 12 Yu Tamura, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Michael Leitch (captain), 5 Justin Ives, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki.
Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 19 Shinya Makabe, 20 Shoji Ito, 21 Hendrik Tui, 22 Atsushi Hiwasa, 23 Karne Hesketh.
Date: Wednesday, September 23
Venue: Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester
Kick-off: 14.30 (13.30 GMT, 22.30 JST)
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
AFP
