Scotland begin their Rugby World Cup crusade on Sunday when they take on Japan at Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville.
It has been over 12 years since the two teams met for the first and only time, Gavin Hastings scoring 20 points in a 47–9 Scottish victory in a Pool 2 match at the 1991 RWC.
Both teams are having to compensate for last minute injuries. Japan has suffered a late setback with star fly half Andrew Miller straining a left hamstring. Scotland meanwhile rue the loss of flanker Andrew Mower, ruled out of the clash after twisting his knee in training last Monday.
However, Scotland assistant coach Pat Lam remains defiant: “This is the strongest, fittest and best-prepared team Scotland have ever sent out,” he said.
Scotland are favourites for the match, their ninth place in the official IRB world rankings nine ahead of 18th placed Japan.
Scotland:
15 Ben Hinshelwood14 Chris Paterson 13 Andy Craig 12 James McLaren 11 Kenny Logan 10 Gordon Ross 9 Bryan Redpath (c) 8 Simon Taylor 7 Jon Petrie 6 Jason White 5 Stuart Grimes 4 Scott Murray 3 Bruce Douglas 2 Rob Russell 1 Tom Smith
Replacements: 16 Gordon Bulloch 17 Gavin Kerr 18 Ross Beattie 19 Martin Leslie 20 Mike Blair 21 Gregor Townsend 22 Simon Danielli
Japan:
15 Tsutomu Matsuda 14 Daisuke Ohata 13 Reuben Parkinson 12 Yukio Motoki 11 Hirotoki Onozawa 10 Keiji Hirose 9 Takashi Tauji 8 Takeomi Ito 7 Takuro Miuchi (c) 6 Naoya Okubo 5 Adam Parker 4 Hajimo Kiso 3 Masahiko Toyoyama 2 Masao Amino 1 Shin Hasegawa
Replacements: 16 Masahito Yamamoto 17 Masaaki Sakata 18 Hiroyuki Tanuma 19Yasunori Watanabe 20 Yuji Sonoda 21 Andrew Miller 22 Toru Kurihara
The game will be refereed by Australia’s Stuart Dickenson while Irish pair Alan Lewis and Alain Rolland will run the touchline. Donal Courtney is the TV Match official.
Live coverage of the 20:00 (EST) kick off, including audio and video highlights can be seen at rugbyworldcup.com.