Pool C:
France v Fiji,
Toulouse, 1.0 (ITV).
France, denied the services of their driving out-half Thomas Castaignede through injury, are still aiming for a straight road to the World Cup quarter-finals when they face Fiji in the decisive Group C match today.
The French, who have been unimpressive in their two wins so far over Canada and Namibia, have vowed to improve against the South Pacific side they have beaten in their four previous meetings.
"A victory on Saturday would open a freeway to Dublin in front of us," said French general manager Jo Maso. "But a defeat would mean entering a tricky road with several cliffs which we could fall down."
Defeat would probably mean a play-off match against England at Twickenham, something both France and Fiji are anxious to avoid. Injuries have forced a reshuffle behind the French scrum for today's match. As well as losing the inspirational Castaignede they will be without scrum-half Pierre Mignoni who pulled a thigh muscle in training. He is replaced by Stephane Castaignede.
FRANCE: Mola; Bernat-Salles, Dourthe, Ntamack, Dominici; Lamaison, Castaignede; Califano, Ibanez, Tournaire, Benazzi, Pelous, Lievremont, Magne, Juillet.
FIJI: To be announced
Pool A:
Scotland v Spain,
Murrayfield, 3.0 (ITV).
Only a faultless performance and a big win over lightweights Spain today will lift some of the gloom surrounding the Scotland side and boost their morale ahead of the tough World Cup battles to come.
The Five Nations champions, who have made a worrying start to their campaign, can no longer rely on the creative skills of centre John Leslie, ruled out of the tournament by an ankle injury.
Coach Jim Telfer has named his second string side to face Spain. Today's match, however, will be a special occasion for seasoned forward Paul Burnell, earning his 50th cap to join Sandy Carmichael as Scotland's most capped prop, and full back Chris Paterson who will be making his Test debut.
Scotland can alway turn to the past inspiration, having destroyed Spain 85-3 the last time they met.
The Spaniards will start the match against Scotland without their inspirational captain Alberto Malo. The number eight suffered a knee injury against South Africa from which he has not fully recovered and will be among the replacements.
SCOTLAND: Paterson; Murray, Mayer, McLaren, Longstaff, Hodge, Redpath; Hilton, Russell, Burnell, Weir, Reed, Walton, Mather, Reid. Replacements: Metcalfe, Townsend, Fairley, Leslie, Grimes, Graham, Bulloch.
SPAIN: Puertas; Inchausti, Enciso, Loubsens, Frechilla; Kovalenco, Gallastegui; Torres, Zarzosa, Zapatero, Villau, Diaz, Astarloa, Souto, Mata. Replacements: Velasco, Socias, Alonso, Malo, Tuineau, Martinez, De La Calle.
Referee: Clayton Thomas (Wales).
Pool D: Argentina v Japan,
Cardiff, 7.0.
Finally, at the fourth attempt, a quarter-final place is in reach for Argentina. Victory, or even a draw, against Japan today would almost certainly secure a play-off place.
And depending on how many points they score they could finish third, second or even top of Group D.
Samoa's win over Wales on Thursday has blown the group wide open and the Pumas know exactly what they need to do. Scoring 69 points or more to win would take them top and earn an automatic quarter-final against Australia.
A win with between 48 and 68 points would give them second place and a play-off against Scotland, while a win with fewer than that would almost certainly earn them a play-off against Ireland as the best third-placed team.
Last Sunday's spirited 32-16 victory over Samoa has put a new spring into the step of the under-achieving South Americans, who had previously only a solitary victory over Italy in 1987 to show for their World Cup efforts.
ARGENTINA: Corletto; Camardon, Simone, Arbizu (capt), Albanese; Quesada, Pichot; Reggiardo Ledesma, Hasan, Sporleder, Allub, Phelan, Martin, Longo.
JAPAN: Matsuda; Ohata, McCormick (capt), Motoki, Tuidraki; Hirose, Bachop; Nakamichi, Kunda, Oguchi, Gordon, Tanuma, Okubo, Smith, Joseph.
Referee: S Dickinson (Australia).
