Four of the so-called World Cup minnows are in action on Tuesday determined to take advantage of their best chance of securing a victory in the tournament.

Japan face Canada in Bordeaux in the opening game while Romania take on Portugal at the Stade de Toulouse later in the day.

In the bigger picture of the World Cup, both these games might be considered dead rubbers. None of the teams have a chance of reaching the knock-out stages and the results have no bearing on the quarter-finals.

Japan and Portugal have lost three games while Canada and Romania have gone down in their two pool matches to date.

A place in the quarter-finals may not be at stake, but there is still the important matter of pride and bragging rights amongst the second-tier nations that will give an edge to each of the matches.

Canada, in particular, will want to maintain their proud record of having won at least one match in each of the five previous World Cups.

They have little chance of achieving that in the last pool match with Australia so the Japan game represents their last realistic chance of a win.

"I don't think it will be difficult to get the players motivated," said Canada coach Ric Suggitt.

"The players have a lot of pride and they know in the record books that Canada has come away with at least one victory.

"They are well aware of that but we do not want to put too much external pressure on them and say they have to win the game."

The same is true of Japan. Their coach John Kirwan had been set a target of two tournament victories for the first time, and while that may no longer be possible a closing win will at least ease the disappointment for the Brave Blossoms.

"I think if you ask around, the Japanese side has gained respect for the way we played but we need to translate that into a victory and that would be a good platform to build on, for sure," Kirwan said.

"We came here to win two games and at least try hard in every game but the rugby ball doesn't always bounce the way you want it.

"We need to change the culture a little bit. We need to change from a culture that was used to losing to a culture that wins and you need results to change."

Portugal have been one of the surprise performers in the tournament so far, despite going down by heavy margins in all three of their games.

But they showed enough ability in the losses to Scotland and Italy to take something away from their World Cup debut.

A victory over Romania, who are in the process of rebuilding a rugby proud culture that included victories over France in the 1980s, would deem their tournament a success.

Romania, who pushed Italy hard in a 24-18 loss, will start the game as favourites. They face the mighty All Blacks in their last group match so Portugal also represents their final chance of leaving the tournament with a victory.

POOL B: Canada v Japan

Canada: 15-Mike Pyke, 14-Dth van der Merwe, 13-Craig Culpan, 12-Dave Spicer, 11-James Pritchard, 10-Ryan Smith, 9-Morgan Williams (captain), 8-Aaron Carpenter, 7-Adam Kleeberger, 6-Colin Yukes, 5-Mike James, 4-Mike Burak, 3-Jon Thiel, 2-Pat Riordan, 1-Rod Snow.

Replacements: 16-Mike Pletch, 17-Dan Pletch, 18-Scott Franklin, 19-Josh Jackson, 20-Mike Webb, 21-Ed Fairhurst, 22-Justin Mensah-Coker.

Japan: 15-Go Aruga, 14-Kosuke Endo, 13-Yuta Imamura, 12-Shotaro Onishi, 11-Christian Loamanu, 10-Bryce Robins, 9-Tomoki Yoshida, 8-Takuro Miuchi (capt), 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-Luatangi Samurai Vatuvei, 19-Hajime Kiso, 20-Chulwon Kim, 21-Koji Taira, 22-Hirotoki Onozawa.

POOL C: Romania v Portugal

Romania: 15-Iulian Dumitras, 14-Catalin Nicolae, 13-Ionut Dimofte, 12-Romeo Gontineac, 11-Catalin Fercu, 10-Dan Dumbrava, 9-Valentin Calafeteanu, 8-Ovidiu Tonita (capt), 7-Alexandru Manta, 6-Alexandru Tudori, 5-Cristian Petre, 4-Cosmin Ratiu, 3-Bogdan Balan, 2-Razvan Mavrodin, 1-Cezar Popescu.

Replacements: 16-Marius Tincu, 17-Paulica Ion, 18-Sorin Socol, 19-Florin Corodeanu, 20-Lucian Sirbu, 21-Florin Vlaicu, 22-Gabriel Brezoianu.

Portugal: 15-Pedro Leal, 14-David Mateus, 13-Federico Sousa, 12-Diogo Mateus, 11-Miguel Portela, 10-Duarte Cardosa Pinto, 9-Jose Pinto, 8-Tiago Girao, 7-Joao Uva, 6-Diogo Coutinho, 5-David Penalva, 4-Goncalo Uva, 3-Ruben Spachuck, 2-Joaquim Ferreira (capt), 1-Rui Cordeiro.

Replacements: 16-Juan Manuel Mure, 17-Joao Correia, 18-Salvador Palha, 19-Paulo Murinello, 20-Luis Pissarra, 21-Goncalo Malheiro, 22-Pedro Carvalho.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport