France v Japan: France will rely on speed rather than power today to master the side they regard as the best of the smaller nations. They meet Japan, beaten 32-11 by Scotland in their opening match, in Townsville in Pool B.

"I think the Scots made a mistake when they tried to overpower the Japanese playing a tight and power game," said France assistant coach Jacques Brunel. "It's the speed that will make the difference, not the running speed of the players because the Japanese have plenty of that but the pace in moving the ball."

France captain Fabien Galthie said the French were determined to gain a bonus point by scoring at least four tries.

"We want a win and a bonus point. We only have three games to play before the quarter-finals and we have to work on the fine points of our game," he said.

Japan coach Shogo Mukaihe made six changes to the team who received widespread acclaim for their performance against Scotland. Centres Reuben Parkinson and Yukio Motoki were replaced by George Konia and Hideki Namba, with Andrew Miller taking over at outhalf from Keiji Hirose. Former sumo wrestler Ryo Yamamura, Hiroyuki Tanuma and Masaaki Sakata were added to the forward pack.

France also made six changes to the team who launched their campaign with a 61-18 win over Fiji. Centre Yannick Jauzion, who scored a hat-trick of tries against Fiji, has been replaced by Damien Traille while Clement Poitrenaud will take over from Nicolas Brusque as full back.

FRANCE: C Poitrenaud; A Rougerie, T Marsh, D Traille, C Dominici; F Michalak, F Galthie (capt); O Milloud, Y Bru, J-Baptiste Poux, F Pelous, O Brouzet, S Betsen, O Magne, C Labit.Replacements: R Ibanez, J-Jacques Crenca, D Auradou, S Chabal, G Merceron, Y Jauzion, P Elhorga.

JAPAN: T Kurihara; D Ohata, G Konia, H Namba, H Onozawa; A Miller, Y Sonoda; S Hasegawa, M Sakata, R Yamamura, H Tanuma, A Parker, N Okubo, T Miuchi, T Miuchi. Replacements: M Yamamoto, M Amino, K Kubo, R Asano, T Tsuji, Y Motoki, T Yoshida.