Kahn Fotuali’i will become the sixth man to captain Samoa in Rugby World Cup action when he leads the team out to face Scotland on Saturday.
Fotuali’I, who has skippered the Samoan national team twice before, takes over the armband from Ofisa Treviranus, who is not in the match day 23. Elsewhere Samoa, who cannot now qualify for the knockout stages, have made seven changes to the team which lost to Japan in Milton Keynes last Saturday, including a brand new partnership in the centres, where George Pisi and Rey Lee-Lo will combine for the first time.
The Samoan squad’s third Saint, winger Ken Pisi, has been named on the bench.
Samoa will face Scotland at St James’ Park in Newcastle, and will be a great curtain raiser for Saturday’s winner-takes-all clash between Wales and Australia, with the winner topping Pool A.
A fourth Saint will be in action at Twickenham, with George North having switched to outside centre for the third time in his test match career; the last time he donned the 13 shirt was also against Australia almost a year ago.
Alun Wyn Jones and Jamie Roberts are the only men in the side to have ever beaten Australia playing for their country, and Wales go into the game needing to win to avoid facing South Africa in the quarter final.
Samoa take on Scotland at 2:30pm, after which Wales face Australia at 4:45pm. Both these matches, along with England’s game against Uruguay (KO 8pm) will be shown exclusively live on ITV.
