Wales go into tonight's Pool B meeting with Japan determined to turn back the tide of "negativity" that head coach Gareth Jenkins has detected in the wake of his side's defeat by Australia.

The aftermath of Saturday's 32-20 loss has been dominated by the issue of whether Wales should have attempted to play a more expansive game from the outset, reprising the flair formula that enabled the same group of players to secure a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2005.

Suggestions to that effect from two influential players, the former captains Martyn Williams and Stephen Jones (pictured), have been interpreted as a sign of disunity in the Welsh camp.

That prompted a furious response from Jenkins, who accused sections of the Welsh media of pursuing an agenda aimed at destabilising his squad.

"There is a real negativity around in Wales about our performances," he said. "If people have a good look at our performance against Australia we made a real game of it and we are not in bad shape.

"It is a disappointing but it hasn't come into the group. The negativity doesn't enter us. We are just amazed."

"We are strong, we know what we are doing. We have a huge regard and respect for what we are trying to do and we are very positive."

Having beaten the Japanese 98-0 on their last visit to Cardiff, in November 2004, Wales will be confident of securing a win that will leave them needing to beat Fiji in Nantes on September 29 to reach the quarter-finals, when they will almost certainly come up against South Africa.

The Springboks have been ominously impressive so far but attack coach Nigel Davies insists that Wales have the ability to beat them for the first time in their history.

"Australia are ranked above South Africa and I believe they have a better attack game all round, they pose a lot more problems," he said.

"I actually believe we can beat anybody on our day. We have elements in our play which shows that."

Flying winger Shane Williams boasts a Welsh record of 14 tries - four in one match - against the Japanese and will lead the team out ahead of Stephen Jones, who takes over the captaincy from the injured Gareth Thomas, in celebration of being the 19th member of the nation's 50-cap club.

Another landmark will be reached by Colin Charvis, whose 92nd cap will match Gareth Llewellyn's total as the most capped forward in Welsh history.

"We have kept a core of experienced players in key positions for us, but have made a number of changes with two factors in mind - the short turnaround time for this game has an effect on selection but we also have a need to give certain players game-time as we are going to be calling on all resources during this tournament," Jenkins said.

"A number of players will be itching to get out there and make their mark on this World Cup and we have the strength in a number of positions to allow us to re-assess form and grow the experience in our squad.

Japan coach John Kirwan has made two changes to the starting lineup that bounced back from their demoralising 91-3 defeat by Australia in their opening match to give Fiji a fright in a 35-31 defeat in their second outing.

The charismatic 1987 World Cup winner with the All Blacks says he believes the key is to stifle the freeflowing moves of the Welsh, should they opt for that strategy.

"If we let them play their quick game, we will be in trouble," said Kirwan.

"So we need to put them under pressure right from the start."

Full-back Go Aruga has failed to recover in time from an injury to his right ankle and he will be replaced by Tongan-born Christian Loamanu who switches from the wing where he played in the 31-35 loss to Fiji.

The other change sees Hirotoki Onozawa, who came on for Aruga against the Fijians in Toulouse, come in at left wing for Kosuke Endo who switches to the right in place of Loamanu.

Teams

Wales: 15-Kevin Morgan, 14-Dafydd James, 13-Jamie Robinson, 12-James Hook, 11-Shane Williams, 10-Stephen Jones (captain), 9-Michael Phillips, 8-Alix Popham, 7-Colin Charvis, 6-Jonathan Thomas, 5-Alun-Wyn Jones, 4-Will James, 3-Chris Horsman, 2-Thomas Rhys Thomas, 1-Duncan Jones.

Replacements: 16-Huw Bennett, 17-Gethin Jenkins, 18-Ian Evans, 19-Martyn Williams, 20-Gareth Cooper. 21-Ceri Sweeney, 22-Tom Shanklin.

Japan: 15-Christian Loamanu, 14-Kosuke Endo, 13-Yuta Imanura, 12-Shotaro Onishi, 11-Hirotoki Onozawa, 10-Bryce Robins, 9-Tomoki Yoshida, 8-Takuro Miuchi (captain), 7-Philip O'Reilly, 6-Hare Makiri, 5-Luke Thompson, 4-Hitoshi Ono, 3-Tomokazu Soma, 2-Yuji Matsubara, 1-Tatsukichi Nishiura.

Replacements: 16-Taku Inokuchi, 17-Ryo Yamamura, 18-Takanori Kumagae, 19-Yasunori Watanabe, 20-Chulwon Kim, 21-Koji Taira, 22-Tatsuya Kusumi.

Referee: Joel Jutge (France)

Previous Five meetings:

Nov 26, 2004 Wales 98 Japan 0, Cardiff

June 17, 2001 Japan 30 Wales 53, Tokyo

June 10, 2001 Japan 10 Wales 64, Osaka

Oct 9, 1999 Wales 64 Japan 15, Cardiff

May 27, 1995 Japan 10 Wales 57, Bloemfontein

AFP