The Latest: 12 changes, 4 years in the planning for Georgia

TOKYO (AP) — The Latest on Day 9 of the Rugby World Cup in Japan (all times local):

2 p.m.

Georgia coach Milton Haig says the decision to make 12 changes to his starting lineup between Rugby World Cup games between Wales and Uruguay was four years in the making.

Georgia is coming off an opening loss to Six Nations champion Wales, and Uruguay opened with a 30-27 upset win over Fiji.

The Fijians also had made a dozen changes to the starting lineup between their first and second games, and were caught off guard by Uruguay.

“When we planned this four years ago, firstly we planned that we needed to make sure we had a strong 31 coming to this tournament,” Haig said. “It was important that there was competition for places and that there wasn’t a big difference between the starting team for game one and the starting team for game two.

“We knew we were going to have short turnarounds and … we don’t really see a lot of significance between what team went out against Wales and what team goes out here.”

Having said that, all bets are off after game two.

“We were committed as a coaching group to give everyone a chance, and from now on it will be best players on the field,” Haig said. “It just means that this team that is selected tomorrow need to go out and do a job for us.”

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12:00 p.m.

Japan is back in the spotlight at the Rugby World Cup after kicking off with a win over Russia in the tournament’s opening game.

The mission in Shizuoka on Saturday goes up a level, though, with Jamie Joseph’s Japan lineup facing an Ireland squad that entered the World Cup with the No. 1 ranking and beat Six Nations rival Scotland 27-3.

Japan’s target at the first Rugby World Cup in Asia is to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time. That ambition will be tested fully against a strong Irish team that is favored to top Pool A.

Also, Argentina meets Tonga in Osaka in its first game since an opening loss to France in Pool C, and South Africa is aiming to rebound from its opening loss to the defending champion All Blacks when it takes on Namibia at Toyota.

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