Test Match No. 60: France National Rugby Union Team's first visit to Japan, game 4

日本語 Français Photo Journal
23 September 1978 at National Stadium
●Japan 16-55 France○
Japan fought well with 3 tries against roaring ‘French heavy tank'
 
Data:
23/09/78
Japan 16 France XV 55
National Kasumigaoka Stadium, Tokyo
Half-time: 0-25
Referee: John R. West (Ireland)
Touch Judges: Hidezo Takamori (Japan), Hiroki Yagi (Japan)
Crowd: 30,000
 
JAPAN: 15 Nobuyuki Ueyama (capt), 14 Hirotaka Ujino, 13 Masaru Fujiwara, 12 Yoichiro Minamikawa, 11 Masao Yoshida, 10 Shigetaka Mori, 9 Junya Matsumoto, 8 Ichiro Kobayashi, 7 Takeo Ishizuka, 6 Mitsuru Sakamoto, 5 Naoshi Kumagai, 4 Takeshi Hatakeyama, 3 Toshiaki Yasui, 2 Mitsuru Hohokabe, 1 Takeshi Nakayama.
Reserves: 16 Take'aki Toyoda, 17 Toshihiro Hirai, 18 Akihiro Goso, 19 Akio Ueda, 20 Shigekazu Hoshino, 21 Nobufumi Tanaka.
Tries: Ujino, Sakamoto, Fujiwara; Conversions: Ueyama, Minamikawa.
 
FRANCE XV: 15 Jean Michel Aguirre, 14 Louis Bilbao, 13 Christian Bélascain, 12 François Sangalli, 11 Guy Novès, 10 Bernard Viviès, 9 Jérôme Gallion, 8 Jean Pierre Bastiat (capt), 7 Christian Béguerie, 6 Jean Pierre Rives, 5 Alain Maleig, 4 Francis Haget, 3 Robert Paparembords (17 Bernard Forestier 75), 2 Jean François Perche, 1 Gérard Cholley.
Reserves: 16 Philipe Dintrans, 18 Jean Luc Joinel, 19 Yves Lafarge, 20 Roger Aguerre, 21 Alain Caussade.
Tries: Novès (3), Pararembords, Maleig, Béguerrie, Cholley, Bastiat, Bilboa; Conversions: Aguerre (8); Penalty Goal: Aguerre.
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 15min-try France XV, Paparembords; conv. Aguirre-0-6, 20min-try France XV, Novès; conv. Aguirre (unknown)-0-**, 28min-try France XV, Maleig; conv. Aguirre (unknown)-0-**, 30min-pen France XV, Aguirre-0-19, --min-try France XV, Béguerie; conv. Aguirre-0-25, Half-time, 44min-try France XV, Novès; conv. Aguirre-0-31, 49min-try France XV, Novès; conv. Aguirre-0-37, 53min-try France XV, Cholley; conv. Aguirre-0-43, 56min-try France XV, Bastiat; conv. Aguirre-0-49, 65min-try Japan, Ujino; conv. Ueyama-6-49, --min-try France XV, Bilbao; conv. Aguirre-6-55, 77min-try Japan, Sakamoto; conv. (unknown) (missed)-10-55, 79min-try Japan, Fujiwara; conv. Minamikawa-16-55.
 


Japan fought well to score three tries against France, and showed some signs of revival.
The stands, surrounded with the loud sound of horns and cheers from French supporters at first, was filled with Japanese fans' cheers and ‘BANZAI' after the 20th minute of the second half. For the last few years, every time Japan played a test match, they were smashed badly in the last twenty minutes, but Japanese rugby has achieved a metamorphosis. The forwards put forth their final effort and won in rucks consecutively. The backs stirred up France with brilliant deployment led by stand-off Mori and fullback Ueyama. The quick trick of ‘getting close, deployment, and continuation' developed for small-scale Japanese rugby picked up the rhythm. Ace player Fujiwara ran like lightning. The three tries Japan snatched cast light on their improvement.