TOKYO, July 16 : Japan have changed their front row and made another three alterations to their line-up to take on France in the Nations Championship in Tokyo on Saturday.• Coach Eddie Jones has elevated props Keijiro Tamefusa and Sojiro Otsuka and hooker Hayate Era from last week's bench against Ireland to the starting line-up, saying he believes that is where they can win the test.• "The battle in the front row will be crucial against France, and I think it will decide the outcome of the match," said the coach when he named his side on Thursday.• Esei Haangana is named among the loose forwards in place of Kanji Shimokawa.
• In the backline, Samisoni Tua comes in at centre for Yuya Hirose and Kippei Ishida replaces Taira Main.Team: 15-Takuro Matsunaga, 14-Kazuma Ueda, 13-Dylan Riley, 12-Samisoni Tua, 11-Kippei Ishida, 10-Ryunosuke Ito, 9-Naoto Saito, 8-Jack Cornelsen, 7-Ben Gunter, 6-Esei Haangana, 5-Warner Dearns (captain), 4-Harry Hockings, 3-Keijiro Tamefusa, 2-Hayate Era, 1-Sojiro OtsukaReplacements: 16-Kenji Sato, 17-Takato Okabe, 18-Izi Sword, 19-Michael Stolberg, 20-Michael Leitch, 21-Tiennan Costley, 22-Taira Main, 23-Shunsuke Uenobo. (Writing by Mark Gleeson in Atlanta; Editing by xx)
