Test Match No. 270: 7th RWC 2011 in New Zealand, game 1

日本語 Français Photo Journal
10 September 2011; G: North Harbour; R: Steve Walsh (AUS)
●Japan 21-47 France○
 
Data:
10/09/2011, the 7th WC Pool A
Japan 21 France 47
North Harbour Stadium, Auckland
Half-time: 11-25
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant Referees: 1st Alain Rolland (Ireland), 2nd Stuart Terheege (England), 3rd Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Crowd: 28,569
 
JAPAN: 15 Shaun Webb (21 Murray Williams 65), 14 Kosuke Endo, 13 Koji Taira (22 Alisi Tupuailei 53), 12 Ryan Nicholas, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 James Arlidge, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka (20 Atsushi Hiwasa 65), 8 Ryukoliniasi Holani (19 Itaru Taniguchi 35), 7 Michael Leich, 6 Takashi Kikutani (capt), 5 Tosizumi Kitagawa, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama (17 Nozomu Fujita 42), 2 Shota Horie, 1 Hisateru Hirashima.
Reserves: 16 Yusuke Aoki, 18 Hitoshi Ono.
Tries: Arlidge (2); Conversion: Arlidge; Penalty Goals: Arlidge (3).
 
FRANCE: 15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Fabrice Estebanez (22 David Marty 47), 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc (21 David Skrela 50 and 20 Morgan Parra 61), 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Raphael Lakafia, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy (19 Julien Bonnaire 73), 6 Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre (18 Pascal Pape 72), 3 Nicholas Mas, 2 William Servat (16 Dimitri Szarzewski 73), 1 Fabien Barcella (17 Jean-Baptiste Poux 50).
Tries: Clerc (2), Pierre, Nallet, Trinh-Duc, Pape, Parra; Conversions: Yachvili (4); Penalty Goals: Yachvili (3).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 4min-try France, Pierre; conv. Yachvili-0-7, 10min-pen Japan, Arlidge (missed), 11min-try France, Trinh-Duc; conv. Yachvili-0-14, 17min-pen Japan, Arlidge-3-14, 21min-pen France, Yachvili-3-17, 28min-pen France, Yachvili-3-20, 30min-try Japan, Arlidge; conv. Arlidge (missed)-8-20, 33min-try France, Trinh-Duc; conv. Yachvili (missed)-8-25, 39min-pen Japan, Arlidge-11-25, Half-time, 48min-try Japan, Arlidge; conv. Arlidge-18-25, 57min-pen Japan, Arlidge-21-25, 66min-pen France, Yachvili-21-28, 70min-try France, Nallet; conv. Yachvili-21-35, 76min-try France, Pape; conv. Yachvili-21-42, 81min-try France, Parra; conv. Yachvili (missed)-21-47.
 


The first match on 10 September at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland was a challenge to France.
In the 3rd minute of the match, a France's player scored a try after getting up with the ball from a ruck, which Japan should have overcome. It was an unlucky loss for Japan. After that, in the 11th minute, a pass from stand-off Arlidge was intercepted and Japan allowed France to outscore them by 14 points. But Japan was patient. They passed the ball around at a high tempo, and hooker Horie and flanker Leitch tackled to prevent more loss.
In the 7th minute of the second half, stand-off Arlidge scored a try 25-18. In the 16th minute, Arlidge scored a penalty goal to make it 25-21, narrowing the margin to 4 points. Even while head coach John Kirwan had professed “We are going to win against Tonga and Canada”, he had actually continued analyzing focusing on France. In this sense, the result was as planned, however, bench players, hooker Aoki and lock Ohno were not subbed in in a crucial scene and Japan lost a win which could be expected.
However, head coach Kirwan was positive. “Players used their full power. They played attacks well, and showed they could defend well too. I guess the audience in New Zealand saw that Japan was a good team.”