Japan v Argentina result: Mateo Carreras hat-trick sets up Wales ...

It’s the last day of pool stages! Obviously it didn’t go by in a flash but still, all of a sudden we’re looking at knockout rugby in a few days time. 

Japan and Argentina would quite like to be involved in that if possible but only one of them will be in the quarter-finals next weekend in Marseille, with both sides before kick-off tied on nine points and currently separated by points difference.

Argentina have been underwhelming, to put it kindly. Their performance against England was dire and they were limited against Samoa as well, which has come as a bit of a shock. Win today and perhaps that doesn’t matter, although given how poor England have been, Pool D has comfortably been the worst pool out of the four.

Still, there’s too much talent in this Argentina side to keep producing dud performances. Michael Cheika has made 11 changes to the side who defeated Chile, with prop Francisco Gómez Kodela back for the first time since facing England.

Here’s captain Julian Montoya on what they’re expecting from Japan.

It is a defining match. We already analysed them and they are a very disciplined team, with good set-pieces and a very accurate kicker. But we have to focus on ourselves, on how we are going to impose our game, our physicality, our game plan, when scoring points.

Perhaps this is the day where we see the best of Argentina’s backs, which will all hinge on ruck speed and clearouts from the likes of Marcos Kremer and Guido Petti.

Japan made the quarter-finals in 2019 and would love to get back to that stage, and in fact it would be something of a small achievement to even reach the last eight given their bad form over the past few years. They threatened at times against England and had their moments against Samoa too.

Siosaia Fifita replacing Jone Naikabula on the left wing is their only change from the win over Samoa, and their biggest threat in Kotaro Matsushima is well overdue a first try at the tournament. Maybe this is the day.

Here’s their assistant coach (and future England Women’s head coach after this tournament), John Mitchell.

We had a good base from [Rugby World Cup] 2019, and what’s been good about this tournament is that we have a lot of players who experienced 2015 and 2019, which are a strength of ours. We have players who know how to deal with and prepare for pressure. Also, we have young energetic and talented players who are experiencing tough games. 

I’m also confident about our scrums and lineouts since they have been improving a lot. If the scrums and lineouts are good, we have the confidence that we can attack and win against any team, so this weekend will be a really good test for us.

Right, plenty of build-up on the way while looking back on Ireland’s excellent performance against Scotland, and England’s very much not excellent performance against Samoa.