Japan change front row as they seek victory over France

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 Otsuka

Replacements: 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)