Japan v Samoa LIVE: Rugby World Cup 2023 result and reaction after Ben Lam red card in Samoa defeat

1 min: Japan are penalised for going in at the side and Samoa go for the posts. Alai D’Angelo Leuila’s 59 m kick has good accuracy but it falls slightly short.

Christian Leali’ifano gets the match started!

15 players from Japan’s victorious side who played Samoa earlier this year are in the team today, including their only try-scorer Amato Fakatava who starts in the second row.

Shota Horie, Keita Inagaki, Michael Leitch and Kotaro Matsushima are all facing Samoa for the third time at a RWC today having also played against them in 2015 and 2019.

Lomano Lemeki makes his first start since 23 October 2021 and is Japan’s starting fullback today.

Seungsin Lee scored 17 points against Samoa earlier this year and will make his RWC debut if he is used from the bench today.

Both teams are out for the anthems, starting with Japan and then Samoa.

Then we’ll have Samoa’s Siva Tau before kick-off in Toulouse.

One player in the Samoa team currently plays their club rugby in Japan, Taleni Seu plays for Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath.

Alamanda Motuga, who has been named on the bench, hasn’t played since Samoa’s last match against Japan earlier in the year and will make his 15s RWC debut if he plays today. He also represented Samoa Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the Sevens Series.

It’s scrum-half Jonathan Taumateine’s 27th birthday today, and he’s contributed to two of Samoa’s six tries at this RWC.

Japan and Samoa have played against each other a total of 17 times. Samoa have won 12, Japan have won five.

In the past five meetings however, Japan have won three of the five. Samoa won the most recent encounter by a two-point margin this year in Tokyo.

The Brave Blossoms were victorious in their meetings in 2015, 2015, and 2019, and their highest score against Samoa came in 2019 (38-19).

This meeting will mark the first time since 2010 that the teams have played against each other twice in the same calendar year.

At Rugby World Cups, Japan have won two out of their three previous meetings.

Samoa won their first encounter at a RWC in 1999 (43-9), while Japan won the following two in 2015 (26-5), and 2019 at their home World Cup (38-19).

Both Japan and Samoa will be wearing their home kit in tonight’s match with Japan in red and white and Samoa in blue.

Samoa have made a late change before kick-off with captain Chris Vui now no longer playing. He’s replaced by Steven Luatua who moves from the bench to the starting team, and Brian Alainu’u’ese joins the replacements.

Fritz Lee takes over the captaincy from Vui.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup is under way in France with the pool stages in full flow.

New Zealand were immediately beaten by the hosts in Paris to set the tone for a tournament where French fans will hope their team can finally lift the Webb Ellis Cup for the first time.

Australia have been the great underwhelmers so far, losing to Fiji and then being thrashed by Wales as Eddie Jones faces a humiliating early exit from the competition.

The Rugby World Cup is hotting up as teams seek to secure their places in the quarter-finals.

The top two nations from each of the four pools will progress to the last eight, with the quarter-finals to be played on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 October in Marseille and Paris.

In the event of a two-way tie, the nation that won the encounter between the two teams will progress; in the event of a three-way tie, the nation that finishes with the best points difference will finish on top, followed by the team that won the fixture between the two remaining teams.

Teams receive four points for a win, with a bonus point available for scoring four tries or more. A losing bonus point is received if you finish within seven points of your opponents; a draw is worth two points.

The third spot in each pool is crucial, too – while this will not allow teams further involvement at this year’s World Cup, it will secure automatic qualification for the next tournament in Australia in 2027.

Here’s how each pool currently looks, the remaining fixtures to be played and the permutations for quarter-final qualification: