Miller - wants a victory. (Getty Images)

By Simon Stone, PA Sport, Sydney

Japan have made five changes to their side for their final World Cup game against the United States in Gosford on Monday.

New Zealand-born centre Ruben Parkinson is the only man to miss out completely for the Cherry Blossoms, who have yet to register a point despite some battling performances in Pool B.

Shin Hasegawa and Masao Amino are drafted into a new-look front-row, while Yuji Sonoda takes over at scrum-half.

Japan must win the game to generate enough interest back home to launch a bid to host the 2011 event.

The Japanese have expressed interest in hosting the tournament although a formal bid has yet to be made.

Yet, according to Kiwi import Andrew Miller, public awareness in the 15-man code is ebbing away after the success of last year's soccer World Cup, and it needs a successful national side to re-ignite the interest.

"Having such a big event in Japan gave a huge boost to soccer and if anything support for rugby now is less than it was a couple of years ago," said the centre, who qualifies for his adopted nation on residency grounds.

"This World Cup is hugely important to us in terms of getting that interest back again and, looking further ahead, for the possibility of hosting the tournament ourselves in eight years time."

After a couple of encouraging performances against Pool B heavyweights Scotland and France, Miller felt Japan let themselves down against Fiji in Townsville on Thursday.

Monday night's trip to Gosford represents their last chance to register a victory, although it will not be easy against a side which failed by just a single point to get a result against Fiji in their opening game and defeated Japan 69-27 in their previous meeting in May this year.

"That was nearly the biggest upset of the tournament and it will have given them a lot of confidence," said Miller.

"They are a pretty big side, which will be a big advantage for them in tight situations but hopefully we will be able to move them around a little bit."

Team: Matsuda; Ohata, Konia, Motoki, Kurihara; Miller, Sonoda; Hasegawa, Amino, Toyoyama, Kiso, Parker, Okubo, Miuchi (Capt), Ito.

Replacements: Yamamoto, Sakata, Kubo, Siato, Tsuji, Namba, Onozawa.