France v Japan: Teams
Vincent Clerc insists France have plenty of respect for World Cup minnows Japan.
Last Updated: 09/09/11 5:46am
France winger Vincent Clerc insists that his team-mates have plenty of respect for World Cup minnows Japan ahead of Saturday's clash in Auckland.
France should avoid a repeat of their 2007 opening day disaster - when they lost to Argentina - when they take on the Cherry Blossoms.
However Clerc claims France are not underestimating John Kirwan's team.
"There's a lot of respect in a World Cup, against teams you've never played before, and with coaches who are legends of rugby," Clerc said.
"They've improved a lot, they're very rigorous and want to improve on the international scene."
Coach Marc Lievremont has backed up Clerc's comments with his selection of a powerful line-up for the match.
Honour
However there is a little bit of experimentation in the line-up, with Fabrice Estebanez and Aurelien Rougerie set to team up in a new-look centre partnership.
Japan have made 11 changes to their starting XV with only Luke Thompson, Takashi Kikutani, Hirotoki Onozawa and Ryan Nicholas retained following the 20-14 warm-up win over the USA.
And Japan captain Kikutani is relishing the chance to take on Les Bleus.
"It's an honour and a privilege to be facing France at full strength," Kikutani said.
"We need to play to our strength, which is speed, and seeing that this is the World Cup we want to show the world what Japanese rugby is capable of."
France: 15 Cedric Heymans, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 1 Fabien Barcella, 2 William Servat, 3 Nicolas Mas, 4 Julien Pierre, 5 Lionel Nallet, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 8 Raphael Lakafia.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 17 Dimitri Szarzewski, 18 Pascal Pape, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Skrela, 22 David Marty.
Japan: 15 Shaun Webb, 14 Kosuke Endo, 13 Koji Taira, 12 Ryan Nicholas, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 James Arlidge, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryukoliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Leitch, 6 Takashi Kikutani (c), 5 Toshizumi Kitagawa, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Hisateru Hirashima.
Replacements: 16 Yusuke Aoki, 17 Nozomu Fujita, 18 Hitoshi Ono, 19 Itaru Taniguchi, 20 Atsushi Hiwasa, 21 Murray Williams, 22 Alisi Tupuailai.