FYING Fijians coach Ilivasi Tabua said it was too late to bring in new players with only three days remaining to the end of the ANZ Pacific Nations Cup.
He said with injuries to co-captain Seru Rabeni, Leone Nakawara and Ilikena Bolakoro, he would select his 22 players for the match against Japan from the remaining 27.
Rabeni, who is set to move from Leicester to Gloucester on a three-year contract, is suffering from injuries from the game against the Junior All Bla-cks.
Nakarawa, who was named on the reserves for the match against Samoa, injured his ankle during training last Thursday.
Tabua said both Rabeni and Nakarawa would play no further part in the series.
"Seru is out of team because of the injuries sustained against the Junior All Blacks and will undergo an operation soon," Tabua said.
"Leone is out for six weeks and Ilikena will be out for two weeks depending on how he reacts to the treatment.
"It's too late to bring in a new player in to the game against Japan.
"We have 27 players and we will select our 22-member team from there and there are no changes there, otherwise we will have to start all over again."
Tabua said if the tournament was a bit longer then there could have been a possibility of roping in a new player.
"If the tournament was longer we would be able to bring a new person in but it's too late at this stage otherwise we will have to introduce the whole system again
"The time is too short and its only one day remai-ning and only a three day turn around from here"
Tabua said he expects the game against Japan to be an exciting one.
He said both sides could play structured and free flowing rugby.
"We (Fiji) can play either structured and also free flowing but you have to have balance of both," he said
"Different teams have different approaches according to their team's streng-ths and weaknesses and Japan is no different.
"Japan will be committed and they will be coming in there wanting a win.
"So we will come out on the day and show that we want it more than they do."
Meanwhile Tabua declin-ed to comment on why French rugby top scorer Napolioni Nalaga was not considered for the squad.
Nor did he want to comment on Seremaia Bai who did not participate in the cibi before the game against Samoa last Saturday.