Test Match No. 230: The 6th Rugby World Cup (France, etc.), game 4

日本語 Photo Journal
Japan's 8 Best Games
25 September 2007 in Bordeaux
△Japan 12-12 Canada△
Brought to a dramatic draw during extra time
 
Data:
25/09/2007, RWC2007 Pool B
Japan 12 Canada 12
Le Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux, France
Half-time: 5-0
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch Judges: 1st Lyndon Bray (New Zealand), 2nd Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), 3rd Alain Rolland (Ireland) / Hervé Dubes (France)
Crowd: 33,810
 
JAPAN: 15 Go Aruga, 14 Kosuke Endo (22 Hirotoki Onozawa 72), 13 Yuta Imamura (21 Koji Taira 69), 12 Shotaro Onishi, 11 Christian Loamanu, 10 Bryce Robins, 9 Tomoki Yoshida (20 Kim Chul Won 50), 8 Takuro Miuchi (capt) (19 Hajime Kiso 72), 7 Philip O'Reilly, 6 Hare Makiri, 5 Luke Thompson, 4 Hitoshi Ono (18 Luatangi Samurai Vatuvei 56),3 Tomokazu Soma (17 Ryo Yamamura 52), 2 Yuji Matsubara, 1 Tatsukichi Nishiura (3 Tomokazu Soma 75).
Reserve: 16 Taku Inokuchi.
Tries: Endo, Taira; Conversion: Onishi.
 
CANADA: 15 Mike Pyke, 14 DTH (Daniel) Van der Merwe, 13 Craig Culpan (22 Justin Mensah-Coker 72), 12 Dave Spicer, 11 James Prichard, 10 Ryan Smith, 9 Morgan Williams (capt), 8 Aaron Carpenter (20 Mike Webb 56), 7 Adam Kleeberger (19 Josh Jackson 79), 6 Colin Yukes, 5 Mike James, 4 Mike Burak, 3 Jon Thiel (18 Scott Franklin 58), 2 Pat Riordan (16 Mike Pletch 60), 1 Rod Snow (17 Dan Pletch 46).
Reserve: 21 Ed Fairhurst.
Tries: Riordan, Van der Merwe; Conversion: Pritchard.
Yellow Card: Riordan (35, sin-bin, stamping).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 12min-try Japan, Endo; conv. Onishi (missed)-5-0, Half-time, 48min-try Canada, Riordan; conv. Pritchard (missed)-5-5, 25min-try Canada, Van der Merwe; conv. Pritchard-5-12, 42min-try Japan, Taira; conv. Onishi-12-12.
 


Japan put up a great fight to draw with Canada in their last game of the Cup. In the 12th minute of the first half, wing Endo supported the vertical attack from a lineout and ran well to score an opening try. Japan kept their guard up with the “stepping forward” defence established under Kirwan, and ended the first half 5-0. They conceded two tries to Canada in the second half. Canada took the upper hand because of these (5-12), but Japan did not give up. In the last play of the added time, Japan pushed in a maul from a penalty kick, and scored a try. Onishi scored a difficult tying goal. It is a valuable 12-12 draw that Japan earned. Japan's persistent will to win, shown by Miuchi when he blocked a try in the in-goal line by hogging Canada's ball, was touching. Miuchi, number 8 and the captain, said that “We wanted to win. I am so pleased that we caught up in the end.” The head coach Kirwan said that “We just have to grow step by step. Improving our resilience and physical strength is a sure way to success.” Japan will begin anew in order to realise their dream to be in the knockout stage of the World Cup four years later. Sud Ouest, a local newspaper of Bordeaux, said of this historical draw ‘the sun has risen', and favourably reported: “when Japan levelled the score, the stadium was filled with a happy air.” BBC Sport, the Major British news site, called Japan “Brave Blossoms” with the emblem of cherry blossoms when they reported on the match. Although it was a draw, Japan took the centre stage of the international media.