Test Match No. 190: The 5th Rugby World Cup (Australia), game 2

日本語 Français Photo Journal
18 October 2003 in Townsville
●Japan 29-51 France○
Japan fought well but could not win
 
Data:
18/10/2003, the 5th WC Pool B
Japan 29 France 51
Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville
Half-time: 16-20
Referee: Allan Lewis (Ireland)
Touch Judges: 1st Steve Lewis (New Zealand), 2nd Mark Lawrence (South Africa), 3rd Chris White (England)
Crowd: 21,309
 
JAPAN: 15 Toru Kurihara, 14 Daisuke Ohata, 13 George Konia, 12 Hideki Namba, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 Andrew Miller, 9 Yuji Sonoda, 8 Takeomi Ito, 7 Takuro Miuchi (capt), 6 Naoya 'Tofu' Okubo (19 Ryota Ashano 68), 5 Adam Parker, 4 Hiroyuki Tamuma (18 Koichi Kubo 42), 3 Ryo Yamamura, 2 Masaki Sakata, 1 Shin Hasegawa.
Reserves: 16 Masahito Yamamoto, 17 Masao Amino, 20 Takashi Tsuji, 21 Yukio Motoki, 22 Takashi Yoshida.
Tries: Konia, Ohata; Conversions: Kurihara (2); Penalty Goals: Kurihara (5).
 
FRANCE: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Aurelien Rougerie, 13 Tony Marsh, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Christophe Dominici, 10 Frederic Michalak (20 Gerald Merceron 68), 9 Fabien Galthie (capt), 8 Christian Labit, 7 Oliver Magne, 6 Srerge Besten, 5 Olivier Brouzet, 4 Fabien Pelous (18 David Auradou 62), 3 Jean Baptiste Poux (16 Raphael Ibanez 50), 2 Yannick Bru, 1 Olivier Milloud (17 Jean Jacques Crenca 50).
Reserves: 19 Sebastien Chabal, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Pepito Elhorga.
Tries: Rougerie (2), Michalak, Pelous, Dominici, Crenca; Conversions: Michalak (5), Merceron; Penalty Goals: Michalak (3).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 4min-pen Japan, Kurihara-3-0, 5min-try France, Michalak; conv. Michalak-3-7, 8min-try France, Rougerie; conv. Michalak-3-14, 11min-pen Japan, Kurihara-6-14, 16min-pen France, Michalak-6-17, 22min-pen France, Michalak (missed), 27min-pen France, Michalak-6-20, 32min-try Japan, Konia; conv. Kurihara-13-20, 40min-pen Japan, Kurihara-16-20, Half-time, 45min-pen Japan, Kurihara-19-20, 48min-try France, Pelous; conv. Michalak-19-27, 52min-try France, Dominici; conv. Michalak-19-34, 57min-pen France, Michalak-19-37, 64min-pen Japan, Kurihara-22-37, 68min-try France, Rougerie; conv. Michalak-22-44, 71min-try Japan, Ohata; conv. Kurihara-29-44, 68min-try France, Crenca; conv. Merceron-29-51.
 


Japan stood their ground and fought bravely against powerful France in game 2, too. Miller's game construction was flexible. The forwards did their best to gain possession and contributed to the two great tries by Cogniat and Ohata. Kurihara scored five penalties to chase France up. Kurihara also scored a 40-metre penalty between left and centre to make it 19-20 in the 5th minute of the second half. Japan came to within just one point of France, ranked fifth in the world. The spectators murmured excitedly for the possible giant-killing. ‘Will we be one of the top contenders if we beat France?' wondered coach Mukai. The main reason for this good fight is that we ensured that we were able to ‘score some points whenever we get into the opponent's territory' in the first half. Although France was dominating in possession of the ball, Japan did not let the gap widen by making active efforts to earn penalties. Japan's speedy deployment by the backs won the hearts of the fans in the rugby superpower.