TOULOUSE, France - Samoa suffered a blow before kickoff in their Pool D clash against Japan in Toulouse on Thursday when co-captain Chris Vui was forced to withdraw from the team.
Vui, who shares the captaincy with reserve prop Michael Alaalatoa, will be replaced at lock by former All Black Steven Luatua with Brian Alainu'u'ese coming onto the bench. Loose forward Fritz Lee will captain the team onfield at the start.
Japan were also forced into a late change when scrumhalf Yutaka Nagare dropped out. Naoto Saito will move up from the bench to start in his place with Kenta Fukuda joining the replacements. REUTERS
