Test Match No. 76: Three-nation (English student rep team's first, and New Zealand Universities' sixth visit to Japan), game 10

日本語 Photo Journal
26 September 1982 at National Stadium
○Japan 31-15 New Zealand Universities●
Beat NZU in Japan for the first time
 
Data:
26/09/82, Inter-Tri Nations (England, New Zealand, Japan)
Japan 31 New Zealand Universities 15
National Kasumigaoka Stadium, Tokyo
Half-time: 16-6
Referee: Brian Anderson (Scotland)
Touch Judges: Hiroki Yagi (Japan), Hidezo Takamori (Japan)
Crowd: 25,000
 
JAPAN: 15 Naoyuki Tanifuji, 14 Kazuhiko Honjo, 13 Yoichiro Minamikawa, 12 Masaru Fujiwara (20 Nobufumi Tanaka --), 11 Etsuro Tsuji, 10 Yuji Matsuo, 9 Yoshimitsu Konishi, 8 Kazuo Sejimo, 7 Takeo Ishizuka (capt), 6 Takashi Ito (18 Yasuharu Kawase --), 5 Michihito Chida, 4 Toshiyuki Hayashi 3 Koji Horaguchi, 2, Tsuyoshi Fujita, 1 Jiro Ishiyama.
Reserves: 16 Ken Nakayama, 17 Masahiro Inoue, 19 Tsuyoshi Okuwaki.
Tries: Tsuji (2), Tanifuji, Konishi; Conversions: Honjo (3); Penalty Goals: Honjo (3).
 
NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITIES: 15 Tim Copplestone, 14 Craig McDowell, 13 Densis Woods, 12 Mark W.N. Gray, 11 Mark MacIntosh, 10 Mark Cameron, 9 Douglas Sharland, 8 Alexander McKenzie, 7 Collin Curry, 6 Paul Jensen, 5 David Rutherford, 4 Ian Stewarr (capt), 3 Hamish Qquinlivan, 2 Rex Harding, 1 Mark A. Gray.
Reserves: 16 Ivan Holloway, 17 Craig Pullar, 18 Lyall Bunn, 19 Mark Meates, 20 Miles Hughes, 21 Peter Stratton.
Try: McDowell; Conversion: Cameron; Penalty Goals: Cameron (2); Drop Goal: Cameron.
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 2min-pen NZU, Cameron-0-3, 20min-pen Japan, Honjo-3-3, 13min-pen NZU, Cameron-3-6, 17min-pen Japan, Honjo (missed), 22min-try Japan, Tanifuji; conv. Honjo (missed)-7-6, 20min-pen Japan, Honjo-10-6, 28min-try Japan, Konishi; conv. Honjo-16-6, 32min-pen Japan, Honjo (missed), 36min-pen Japan, Honjo (missed), Half-time, 51min-drop goal NZU, Cameron-16-9, 53min-try NZU, McDowell; conv. Cameron-16-15, 63min-try Japan, Tsuji; conv. Honjo-22-15, 68min-pen Japan, Honjo-25-15, 80min-try Japan, Tsuji; conv. Honjo-31-15.
 


“Losing to NZU now will be catastrophic for Japanese rugby. Let's devote our full strength to this match. It is possible to beat New Zealand if we stop them where we have to.” Coach Hibino had a good feeling about this. The battle between NZU's power rugby and Japan's running rugby was full of thrills and suspense, which never bored spectators. With this monumental first victory in Japan over NZU, the direction of Japanese rugby which coach Hibino is exploring received approval, and a sense “rugby is real good” was instilled.