Test Match No. 46: Australian Tour 1975, game 5

日本語 Photo Journal
2 August 1975 in Sydney
●Japan 7-37 Australia○
Lost to Australia by 30 points
 
Data:
02/08/75, 1st Test
Japan 7 Australia 37
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Half-time: 7-18
Referee: W.M. Cooney (New South Wales, Australia)
Touch Judges: unknown
Crowd: 9,533
 
JAPAN: 15 Nobuyuki Ueyama, 14 Masaru Fujiwara, 13 Shigetaka Mori, 12 Masao Yoshida, 11 Ken Aruga, 10 Masakatsu Iguchi, 9 Ryozo Imazato (capt), 8 Ichiro Kobayashi, 7 Hideo Akama, 6 Yoshiaki Izawa, 5 Koichi Shibata, 4 Hiroshi Ogasawara, 3 Susumu 'Asura' Hara, 2 Toshio Kurosaka, 1 Tsukasa Takata.
Try: Aruga; Penalty Goal: Ueyama.
 
AUSTRALIA: 15 Paul Edward McLean, 14 Douglas Hugh Osborne, 13 Laurence John 'Spoon' Weatherstone, 12 Geofrey Arnord Shaw, 11 Ian Jeffrey Robertson, 10 Kenneth James Wright, 9 John Noel Brian Hipwell (capt) (-- Rodney Graham Hauser 52), 8 Mark Edward Loane, 7 Raymond Allen Price, 6 Garrick Fay, 5 Reginald Allan Smith, 4 Michael Richard Cocks, 3 Ronald Graham, 2 Peter Alan Horton, 1 Stephen Charles Finnane.
Tries: McLean (2), Robertson (2), Wright, Osborne; Conversions: McLean (5); Penalty Goal: McLean (missed 1 pen).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 1min-try Australia, McLean; conv. McLean-0-6, 3min-try Australia, Robertson; conv. McLean-0-12, 9min-pen Japan, Ueyama-3-12, 18min-try Japan, Aruga; conv. Ueyama (missed)-7-12, 34min-try Australia, Wright; conv. McLean-7-18, Half-time, 42min-try Australia, Robertson; conv. McLean-7-24, 47min-pen Australia, McLean-7-24, 57min-try Australia, McLean; conv. McLean (missed)-7-31, 59min-try Australia, Osborne; conv. McLean-7-37.
 


Although every player of Japan was fired up for the first test match in the tour, the rain seemed to have dimmed their enthusiasm a little. Very early in the match, Japan conceded two goals due to soft tackling by the backs just like the previous game against the Sydney team, but managed to play at their own pace for 15 minutes or so. At one stage, the score was 7-12. Just one goal could make Japan win. However, Australia scored a try and a goal in the 35th minute to widen the gap. As in the first half, Japan conceded one goal and one penalty very early in the second half. This gave Australia a comfortable margin of victory. It was a seesaw game afterwards, but Australia steadily added to their score and won 7-37. If Japan had had more sense of tension in the beginning of each half, it could have been a close match.