Korea, Japan and Hong Kong are involved in the tournament to decide further participation in the World Cup. The tournament was to have been in Sri Lanka but was switched to Hong Kong because of perceived political instability in Sri Lanka.

In the first match Japan beat Hong Kong 52-3. In the second Korea beat Hong Kong 23-5. Hong Kong were thus eliminated.

Now Japan and Korea meet. The winner will go to France, the loser into répechage to play Tonga, a tough assignment.

In April this year the two countries met and Japan won 50-14. In fact since the countries first met in 1969, Korea have won only twice - 21-17 in 1998 and 45-34 in 2002. It is a match which Japan is expected to win though the rain may well make a substantial difference.

Japan have the advantage of a longer break between matches than Korea who played Hong Kong on Tuesday.

John Kirwan, Japan's coach, has kept changes to the minimum. There is just one change in the Brave Blossoms' backline. Scrumhalf Shota Goto, who injured his neck against Hong Kong, is replaced by Mamoru Ito, who started on the bench against Hong Kong. Takashi Tsuji was flown across from Japan on Tuesday and comes onto the bench in Ito's place. The only other change is on the bench where Takashi Kikutani replaces Tomoki Kitagawa.

Korea, too, are little changed in the backs but left little unchanged in the pack. . At outside centre Jong Su Kim and Min Hyung Yoo swap places, the former starting this time with the latter on the bench. The whole front row is changed. At loosehead Young Keun Kim and Sung Un Jung swap places. Hooker Jang Woo Lee drops out to be replaced by Soon Kil Eom and at tighthead Tae Hyung Kim is replaced by Kwang Mo Kim. In the lock Seon Kyu Park and Young Nam You is now on the flank instead of Song Gun Jung.

Teams:

Japan:  15 Go Aruga, 14 Daisuke Ohata (captain), 13 Hideyui Yoshida, 12 Shotaro Onishi, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 Keisuke Sawaki, 9 Mamoru Ito, 8 Takuro Miuchi, 7 Philip O’Reilly, 6 Hajime Kiso, 5 Luatangi Samurai Vatuvei, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Ryo Yamamura, 2 Mitsugu Yamamoto, 1 Tatsukichi Nishiura
Replacements: 16 Yuji Matsubara, 17 Yuichi Hisadomi, 18 Takashi Akatsuka, 19 Takashi Kikutani, 20 Takashi Tsuji, 21 Kenji Shomen, 22 Ryota Asano

Korea: 15 Jae Young Chae, 14 Chul Woong Kwak, 13 Jong Su Kim, 12 Sung Soo Kim, 11 In Sou Cho, 10 Tae Il Yoon, 9 Myung Geun Lee, 8 Kwang Moon Lee, 7 Young Nam You, 6 Jeong Min Kim, 5 Kwon Woo Youn, 4 Young Nam Kim, 3 Tae Hyung Kim, 2 Soon Kil Eom, 1 Young Keun Kim
Replacements: 16 Sung Un Jung, 17 Tae Hyung Kim, 18 Seon Kyu Park, 19 Song Gun Jung, 20 Young Hun Yang, 21 Min Hyung Yoo, 22 Keun Hyun Kim

Date: Saturday, 25 November 2006
Kick-off: 18.30pm (Hong Kong/Beijing time)
Venue: Hong Kong Football Club
Expected weather conditions: Rain in the afternoon, clearing, with a high of 23°C dropping to 21°C and a light wind
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Touch judges: James Leckie, George Ayoub (both Australia)
Assessor: Brendan McCormick (Australia)