USA make five changes for France clash
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: USA coach Gary Gold made five changes to the side that lost 7-45 to England, many of them enforced by injury or suspension, for their clash against France on Wednesday.
John Quill, who is suspended after suffering the ignominy of receiving the tournament's first red card, has been replaced by Hanco Germishuy.
Bryce Campbell and Mike Teo have been named to replace the injured pair of Paul Lasike and Will Hooley. And Eric Fry has been picked in place of David Ainu'u, who left the World Cup after sustaining a bad ankle injury.
"From the pack to a really dangerous backline, they have threats across the field," said captain Blaine Scully, contemplating the difficulties Les Bleus will pose.
"If we stick to our process and stick to our structures and our game plan, we feel like we can compete with anybody in the world and that's what we're here to do."
USA: 15 Mike Teo, 14 Blaine Scully (captain), 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Bryce Campbell, 11 Martin Iosefo, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 6 Tony Lamborn, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Joe Taufetee, 1 Eric Fry.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Ben Pinkelman, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Will Magie, 23 Thretton Palamo.
Date: Wednesday, October 2
Venue: Fukuoka Hakatanomori Stadium, Fukuoka City
Kick-off: 16.45 (03.45 USA Eastern time; 07.45 GMT; 09.45 France time)
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)