Test Match No. 81: France National Rugby Union's second visit to Japan, game 5

日本語 Français Photo Journal
7 October 1984 at National Stadium
●Japan 12-40 France○
Japan showed their guts and scored three tries in the last match of the tour
 
Data:
07/10/84, 2nd Test
Japan 12 France XV 40
Nationa Kasumigaoka Stadium, Tokyo
Half-time: 4-15
Referee: Fred A. Howard (England)
Touch Judges: Noboru Mashimo (Japan), Hiroki Yagi (Japan)
Crowd: 40,000
 
JAPAN: 15 Masato Yasuda,, 14 Shinji Onuki, 13 Fukumi Kanaya, 12 Seiji Hirao, 11 Hideo Toshima, 10 Yuji Matsuo (capt), 9 Yoshimitsu Konishi, 8 Michihito Chida, 7 Masahiko Koshiyama, 6 Hikaru Kawachi major, 5 Atsushi Oyagi, 4 Toshiyuki Hayashi, 3 Koji Horaguchi (17 Yoshichiro Ikada 2nd Half --), 2 Tsuyoshi Fujita, 1 Toshitaka Kimura.
Reserves: 16 Masahiro Inoue, 18 Koji Kawachi minor, 19 Tsutomu Okuwaki, 20 Kazuhiko Honjo, 21 Hidao Kobayashi.
Tries: H. Kawachi major, Oyagi, Fujita.
 
FRANCE XV: 15 Jérôme Bianchi, 14 Patrick Estève, 13 Philippe Sella, 12 Patrick Fort, 11 Bernard Lavigne, 10 Jean-Patrick Lescarboura (20 Didier Camberabero 41), 9 Pierre Berbizier, 8 Jean-Charles Orso, 7 Pierre Lacans, 6 Karl Janik, 5 Jean Condom, 4 Jean-Paul Pelloux, 3 Jean-Pierre Garuet-Lempirou, 2 Phillippe Dintrans (capt), 1 Bernard Herrero.
Reserves: 16 Daniel Dubroca 17 Doninique Erbani 18 Marc Andrieu 19 Guy Ramon 21Laurent Pardo.
Tries: Bianchi, Lacans, Janik, Estève, Orso, Dintrans; Conversions: Bianchi (3), Lescarboura (2); Penalty Goals: Bianchi (2).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 12min-pen France XV, Bianchi-0-3, 14min-try France XV, Bianchi; conv. Bianchi-0-9, 31min-try France XV, Lacans; conv. Lescarboura-0-15, 40min-pen Japan, Matsuo (missed), 40min-try Japan, Kawachi major; conv. Matsuo (missed)-4-15, Half-time, 41min-try France XV, Janik; conv. Lescarboura-4-21, 46min-pen France XV, Bianchi-4-24, 54min-try France XV, Estève; conv. Bianchi-4-30, 61min-try Japan, Oyagi; conv. Matsuo (missed)-8-30, 70min-try France XV, Orso; conv. Bianchi (missed)-8-34, 78min-try France XV, Dintrans; conv. Bianchi-8-40, 80min-try Japan, Fujita; conv. Matsuo (missed)-12-40.
 


Japan scored the first try in a test match against France in the last moment of the first half by connecting passes from a maul to Hirao, Onuki, Oyagi, then to Kawachi. In the 21st minute of the second half, Hirao stole the penalty kick in front of the goal quickly, Oyagi, who supported this well, escaped a tackle by a French player, and scored a try. Matsuo then kicked a goal. Just before the end of the match, the ball was passed from a pack to Matsuo, Toshima, and to Fujita to score a try to the left corner. We earned three tries in total from the world's leading rugby country. 40000 spectators at the stadium all knew what the result would be before the match began. “We scored three tries against this opponent. We still have a lot to improve, including a play to stop a maul, and a tackle to kill the ball, but I believe the day will come when we can become world-class,” said coach Hibino with hope for tomorrow.
The world-renowned French players demonstrated textbook examples of the way Japanese rugby should develop in future. During the sayonara (farewell) dinner, French coach Jacques Fouroux, who deserved his title “Napoleon of the rugby world,” winked at me saying that “not many teams in the world can steal three tries from us now.”