All the lineups for Saturday's 2021 Rugby World Cup action

All the teams for Saturday's round two action at the 2021 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

TEAM NEWS HEADLINES

Scotland v Australia

• Scotland coach Bryan Easson has made two personnel and one positional change to his starting line-up from the 18-15 loss to Wales
• Rachel McLachlan returns on the openside to win her 30th cap in the only change to the forwards, replacing Louise McMillan
• Australia coach Jay Tregonning has made three changes to his starting line-up from the 41-17 loss to New Zealand
• Prop Eva Karpani will start at tight-head in place of Bridie O’Gorman, who drops to the vacated spot on the bench
• Maya Stewart will make her Wallaroos test debut on left wing after recovering from an ACL injury. She replaces Ivania Wong, a try-scorer against New Zealand

USA v Japan

• USA coach Rob Cain has made seven personnel and one positional change to his starting line-up from the 22-10 loss to Italy
• Four of the changes come in the forwards with Charli Jacoby to start at tight-head
• Japan coach Lesley McKenzie has made five changes – two of them positional – to her starting line-up from the 41-5 loss to Canada
• Hooker Kotomi Taniguchi will make her first test start for Japan after four appearances off the bench and her Rugby World Cup debut

France v England

• France coach Thomas Darracq has made one change to his starting line-up from the 40-5 victory over South Africa
• Agathe Sochat comes into the front row between props Annaëlle Deshaye and Clara Joyeux, with Laure Touye dropping to the bench as the replacement hooker
• England coach Simon Middleton has made one change to his match-day squad from the 84-19 victory over Fiji
• Marlie Packer will start on the openside in place of Sadia Kabeya, the Player of the Match at Eden Park who has a slight knee injury

SATURDAY, 15 OCTOBER

 

Scotland v Australia

• Scotland coach Bryan Easson has made two personnel and one positional change to his starting line-up from the 18-15 loss to Wales
• Rachel McLachlan returns on the openside to win her 30th cap in the only change to the forwards, replacing Louise McMillan
• Hannah Smith shifts to the left wing in place of Megan Gaffney, who scored two tries in the loss to Wales
• Emma Orr fills the vacated spot at outside centre to partner Lisa Thomson
• Scotland have opted for a four-four split of backs and forwards on the bench with Sarah Law and Evie Wills set for their first appearances of the tournament
• Scotland have also confirmed that Eilidh Sinclair has been ruled out of the tournament with an elbow injury sustained against Wales. She has been replaced by Eva Donaldson, who will arrive in Whangārei on Friday
• Scotland and Australia have only ever met on the Rugby World Cup stage, Australia winning in both 1998 (25-15) and 2002 (30-0)
• It will be 20 years, four months and 21 days since they last met in Barcelona, Spain in 2002
• Scotland are looking to end an eight-game losing streak, having last tasted victory against Colombia in the Final Qualification Tournament in February
• Their last Rugby World Cup victory was against Sweden in 2010, while Scotland have only beaten a southern hemisphere team once at a Rugby World Cup – Samoa in 2002

• Australia coach Jay Tregonning has made three changes to his starting line-up from the 41-17 loss to New Zealand
• Prop Eva Karpani will start at tight-head in place of Bridie O’Gorman, who drops to the vacated spot on the bench
• Maya Stewart will make her Wallaroos test debut on left wing after recovering from an ACL injury. She replaces Ivania Wong, a try-scorer against New Zealand
• The other change sees Lori Cramer given the start at full-back with Pauline Piliae-Rasabale dropping to the bench
• There is one further change on the bench with Piper Duck coming in as back-row cover
• Eleven of the starting line-up play for New South Wales Waratahs in Super W with two each for the Queensland Reds and the Australian sevens team
• Scotland and Australia have only ever met on the Rugby World Cup stage, Australia winning in both 1998 (25-15) and 2002 (30-0)
• It will be 20 years, four months and 21 days since they last met in Barcelona, Spain in 2002
• Australia have also only won one test in 2022, their opening encounter against Fiji in May. They have lost seven in a row and will hope to avoid losing eight consecutive tests for the first time in their history
• The Wallaroos have only lost their first two matches at a Rugby World Cup once before, in 2017 where hosts Ireland and France beat them

Scotland: 1. Molly Wright,2. Lana Skeldon,3. Christine Belisle,4. Emma Wassell,5. Sarah Bonar,6. Rachel Malcolm (captain),7. Rachel McLachlan,8. Jade Konkel-Roberts,9. Caity Mattinson,10. Helen Nelson,11. Hannah Smith,12. Lisa Thomson,13. Emma Orr,14. Rhona Lloyd,15. Chloe Rollie

Replacements: 16. Jodie Rettie,17. Leah Bartlett,18. Elliann Clarke,19. Lyndsay O'Donnell,20. Mairi McDonald,21. Sarah Law,22. Evie Wills,23. Shona Campbell,

Australia: 1. Liz Patu,2. Adiana Talakai,3. Eva Karpani,4. Sera Naiqama,5. Atasi Lafai,6. Emily Chancellor,7. Shannon Parry (captain),8. Grace Hamilton,9. Iliseva Batibasaga,10. Arabella McKenzie,11. Maya Stewart,12. Sharni Williams,13. Georgina Friedrichs,14. Bienne Terita,15. Lori Cramer

Replacements: 16. Ashley Marsters,17. Emily Robinson,18. Bridie O'Gorman,19. Grace Kemp,20. Piper Duck,21. Layne Morgan,22. Trilleen Pomare,23. Pauline Piliae-Rasabale,

USA v Japan

• USA coach Rob Cain has made seven personnel and one positional change to his starting line-up from the 22-10 loss to Italy
• Four of the changes come in the forwards with Charli Jacoby to start at tight-head
• Kristine Sommer and Evi Ashenbrucker form a new second-row partnership with Kathryn Johnson named on the blindside, the latter two making their Rugby World Cup debuts 
• Scrum-half Olivia Ortiz lines up alongside Gabriella Cantorna with a new centre pairing outside them as Alev Kelter shifts from full-back to partner Eti Haungatau
• Meya Bizer replaces Kelter at full-back with Tess Feury handed the left-wing spot
• Two new faces on the bench are Megan Foster and Elizabeth Cairns, both of whom will make their Rugby World Cup debuts
• Replacement Catherine Benson will become the 11th Women’s Eagles player to reach 30 caps if called upon on Saturday. Only Hope Rogers (37) has more caps in the match-day squad
• This is the second meeting between the sides and the first since USA won 121-0 at Rugby World Cup 1994 in Scotland – a match that saw Patty Jervey and Amy Westerman both score five tries
• The USA’s 121 points that day in Melrose is bettered on the Rugby World Cup stage only by New Zealand’s 134-6 win over Germany in 1998
• USA have never lost their opening two games of a Rugby World Cup before. They currently on their longest losing run in RWC history of three matches

• Japan coach Lesley McKenzie has made five changes – two of them positional – to her starting line-up from the 41-5 loss to Canada
• Hooker Kotomi Taniguchi will make her first test start for Japan after four appearances off the bench and her Rugby World Cup debut
• Kyoko Hosokawa comes into the line-up at openside, necessitating positional changes for Seina Saito and Iroha Nagata. Saito, Japan’s most-capped player, moves to number eight and Nagata to blindside
• The final change see Minori Yamamoto promoted from the bench to start alongside Mana Furuta in midfield
• Replacement prop Wako Kitano and full-back Ria Anoku are set for their first involvements of RWC 2021 from the bench
• This is the second meeting between the sides and the first since USA won 121-0 at Rugby World Cup 1994 in Scotland – a match that saw Patty Jervey and Amy Westerman both score five tries
• Japan are bidding to win only their second ever Rugby World Cup pool match and first since they beat Sweden 10-5 in Scotland in 1994

USA: 1. Hope Rogers,2. Joanna Kitlinski,3. Charli Jacoby,4. Kristine Sommer,5. Evi Ashenbrucker,6. Kathryn Johnson,7. Rachel Johnson,8. Kate Zackary (captain),9. Olivia Ortiz,10. Gabriella Cantorna,11. Tess Feury,12. Alev Kelter,13. Eti Haungatau,14. Jennine Detiveaux,15. Meya Bizer,

Replacements: 16. Kathryn Treder,17. Catherine Benson,18. Nick James,19. Jenny Kronish,20. Elizabeth Cairns,21. Carly Waters,22. Megan Foster,23. Lotte Clapp,

Japan: 1. Saki Minami,2. Kotomi Taniguchi,3. Sachiko Kato,4. Yuna Sato,5. Maki Takano,6. Iroha Nagata,7. Kyoko Hosokawa,8. Seina Saito,9. Megumi Abe,10. Ayasa Otsuka,11. Komachi Imakugi,12. Minori Yamamoto,13. Mana Furuta,14. Hinano Nagura,15. Rinka Matsuda

Replacements: 16. Hinata Komaki,17. Nijiho Nagata,18. Wako Kitano,19. Kie Tamai,20. Otoka Yoshimura,21. Moe Tsukui,22. Ria Anoku,23. Ayano Nagai,

France v England

• France coach Thomas Darracq has made one change to his starting line-up from the 40-5 victory over South Africa
• Agathe Sochat comes into the front row between props Annaëlle Deshaye and Clara Joyeux, with Laure Touye dropping to the bench as the replacement hooker
• Céline Ferer continues as captain with Gaëlle Hermet this weekend named on the bench after recovering from a knee injury
• Flanker Marjorie Mayans will play her 50th test for Les Bleues, becoming the fifth player in the France squad for RWC 2021 to have reached the milestone
• There are two other changes to the bench with France’s most-capped player Safi N’Diaye and Marine Ménager set for their first appearance of RWC 2021
• Marine is the twin sister of Romane, who continues at number eight for Les Bleues
• France have lost their last 10 matches against England dating back to their 18-17 win in the 2018 Women’s Six Nations, although six of these matches have been decided by seven points or less
• That 2018 victory by France was the last time England lost to a European nation. Nine members of that winning team will line-up against the Red Roses in Whangārei this weekend in Agathe Sochat, Safi N'Diaye, Marjorie Mayans, Gaëlle Hermet, Romane and Marine Ménager, Pauline Bourdon, Caroline Drouin and Céline Ferer 
• France have never beaten England on the Rugby World Cup stage, losing in 1991, 1994, 2006 and 2017. Three of these meetings were in semi-finals with England winning 27-8 in the pool encounter in 2006

• England coach Simon Middleton has made one change to his match-day squad from the 84-19 victory over Fiji
• Marlie Packer will start on the openside in place of Sadia Kabeya, the Mastercard Player of the Match at Eden Park who has a slight knee injury
• Eleven of the starting line-up also started the Women's Six Nations match against France in April, although Helena Rowland wore the full-back jersey in the 24-12 victory rather than No.12. Amy Cokayne and Ellie Kildunne came off the bench in Bayonne, while Sarah Hunter and Claudia MacDonald were not involved in the match 
• Captain Sarah Hunter will win her 137th test cap and draw level with former team-mate Rochelle 'Rocky' Clark as the most-capped player in women’s rugby history
• Winger Claudia MacDonald is the leading try and points scorer after round one with four and 20
• The Red Roses have won a record 26 consecutive test matches, dating back to a 28-13 loss to New Zealand in San Diego, USA, in July 2019
• England have won their last 28 matches against European opposition. The last team to beat them was France, 18-17 in the 2018 Women’s Six Nations
• They have won 10 in a row against France since that defeat, although six of these matches have been decided by seven points or less
• France have never beaten England on the Rugby World Cup stage, losing in 1991, 1994, 2006 and 2017. Three of these meetings were in semi-finals with England winning 27-8 in the pool encounter in Canada in 2006

 

France: 1. Annaëlle Deshaye,2. Agathe Sochat,3. Clara Joyeux,4. Céline Ferer (captain),5. Madoussou Fall,6. Charlotte Escudero,7. Marjorie Mayans,8. Romane Ménager,9. Laure Sansus,10. Caroline Drouin,11. Emilie Boulard,12. Gabrielle Vernier,13. Maëlle Filopon,14. Joanna Grisez,15. Chloé Jacquet

Replacements: 16. Laure Touye,17. Coco Lindelauf,18. Assia Khalfaoui,19. Safi Ndiaye,20. Gaëlle Hermet,21. Pauline Bourdon,22. Lina Queyroi,23. Marine Ménager,

 

England: 1. Vickii Cornborough,2. Amy Cokayne,3. Sarah Bern,4. Zoe Aldcroft,5. Abbie Ward,6. Alex Matthews,7. Marlie Packer,8. Sarah Hunter (captain),9. Leanne Infante,10. Zoe Harrison,11. Claudia MacDonald,12. Helena Rowland,13. Emily Scarratt,14. Lydia Thompson,15. Ellie Kildunne

Replacements: 16. Connie Powell,17. Hannah Botterman,18. Maud Muir,19. Cath O’Donnell,20. Poppy Cleall,21. Lucy Packer,22. Holly Aitchison,23. Abby Dow,