Test Match No. 8: Oxford University's first visit to Japan, game 6

日本語 Photo Journal
1 October 1952 at Hanazono Rugby Stadium
●Japan 0-35 Oxford University○
Beaten completely in the 1st test match
 
Data:
01/10/52, 1st Test
Japan 0 Oxford University 35
Hanazono Rugby Grounds, Osaka
Half-time: 0-9
Referee: S.M. Duff (England)
Touch Judges: John Marshall (England), Susumu Sato (Japan)
Crowd: 15,000
 
JAPAN: 15 Hidehiko Sato, 14 Genpei Yokoiwa, 13 Takao Otsuka, 12 Syoichiro Koyama, 11 Yoshiaki Aoki, 10 Fukuo Shibagaki, 9 Ryotarou Kadoto, 8 Noboru Hirohata, 7 Yusaku Takahashi (capt), 6 Atsushi Fujii, 5 Shinichi Hashimoto, 4 Akira Tanaka, 3 Ryo Saito, 2 Yoshinobu Nakajima, 1 Tetsuo Sekikawa.
 
OXFORD UNIVERSITY: 15 Christopher James Saunders, 14 Alan Hudson Cooper, 13 Lewis Bernard Cannell, 12 Brian Boobbyer, 11 David Pollard, 10 Richard Reynolds Winn, 9 Kenneth Magnus Spence, 8 Dudley Ernest Wood, 7 David Elisan Davies, 6 Giles Lionel Bullard (capt), 5 Ewen Alastair John Fergusson, 4 Edmund John Wimperis, 3 Christopher John Lawson Griffith, 2 Nigel Arthur Holloway Creese, 1 A.J.M. Smith.
Tries: Pollard (3), Cooper (2), Cannel, Boobbyer, Wimperis, 1 try unknown; Conversions: unknown (4).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 3min-try Oxford Univ., Cooper; conv. unknown (missed)-0-3, 22min-try Oxford Univ., Cooper; conv. unknown (missed)-0-6, 32min-try Oxford Univ., Cannel; conv., Smith (missed)-0-9, Half-time, 42min-try Oxford Univ., Pollard; conv. unknown; --min-try Oxford Univ., unknown; conv. unknown; 50min-try Oxford Univ., Boobbyer; conv. unknown; 53min-try Oxford Univ., Pollard; conv. unknown; 69min-try Oxford Univ., Pollard; conv. unknown, 80min-try Oxford Univ., Wimperis; conv. unknown-0-35, (Japan missed pen 4 times).
 


Japanese rugby world was overjoyed to welcome University of Oxford, a really powerful team from the country where the sport originated. Since their arrival in Japan, Oxford won all six games although there was a struggle against the all-Waseda University team. Oxford won a clear victory over Japan in the first test match as shown by a score of 0-35. In the current scoring system, nine tries and four goals would count as 53 points. This is a huge margin.
Up until the try scored by Wimperis in the last minute of the game, Oxford mounted a full-scale attack created by a harmonious combination of the forwards and the backs. What they demonstrated was a succession of fantastic combined rushes Japan had never seen before. We could say that it was the first time Japan witnessed the power of combination so vividly. Although Japan strived, Oxford blew it out by a big margin of 35 points to nil. However, Japan deserves credit for fighting so well against such a formidable opponent.