Test Match No. 271: 7th RWC 2011 in New Zealand, game 2

日本語 Photo Journal
16 September 2011; G: Hamilton; R: Nigel Owens (WAL)
●Japan 7-83 New Zealand○
 
Data:
16/09/2011, the 7th WC Pool A
Japan 7 New Zealand 83
Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
Half-time: 0-38
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees: 1st Alain Rolland (Ireland), 2nd Jérôme Garces (France), 3rd Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Crowd: 30,484
 
JAPAN: 15 Taihei Ueda (21 Shaun Webb 52), 14 Takahisa Usuzuki, 13 Koji Taira (22 Alisi Tupuailei 46), 12 Yuta Imamura (20 Tomoki Yoshida 71), 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 Murray Williams, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Takashi Kikutani (capt) (19 Vatuvei Sione 59), 7 Michael Leich, 6 Itaru Taniguchi, 5 Tosizumi Kitagawa (18 Yuji Kitagawa 59), 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Nozomu Fujita (17 Kensuke Hatakeyama 59), 2 Yusuke Aoki (16 Hiroki Yuhara 64), 1 Naoki Kawamata.
Try: Onozawa; Conversion: Williams.
 
NEW ZEALAND: 15 Isaia Toeava (21 Piri Weepu 62), 14 Cory Jane (22 Sonny Bill Williams 44), 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Richard Kahui, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Andy Ellis (20 Jimmy Cowan 62), 8 Victor Vito (18 Ali Williams 57), 7 Adam Thompson, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brad Thorn (19 Anthony Boric 72), 3 Owen Franks (17 John Afoa 63), 2 Keven Mealamu (capt) (16 Andrew Hore 44), 1 Tony Woodcock.
Tries: Kahui (2), S. Williams (2), Mealamu, Kaino, Thompson, Ellis, Slade, Nonu, Smith, Toeava, Hore; Conversions: Slade (9).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 4min-try New Zealand, Smith; conv. Slade-0-7, 10min-pen New Zealand, Slade (missed), 15min-try New Zealand, Kahui; conv. Slade (missed)-0-12, 21min-try New Zealand, Kaino; conv. Slade (missed)-0-17, 30min-try New Zealand, Mealamu; conv. Slade-0-24, 34min-try New Zealand, Ellis; conv. Slade-0-31, 36min-try New Zealand, Slade; conv. Slade-0-38, Half-time, 45min-try New Zealand, Kahui; conv. Slade-0-45, 51min-try New Zealand, S. Williams; conv. Slade-0-52, 56min-try New Zealand, Toeava; conv. Slade-0-59, 58min-try Japan, Onozawa; conv. Williams-7-59, 60min-try New Zealand, Hore; conv. Slade (missed)-7-64, 62min-try New Zealand, Nonu; conv. Slade (missed)-7-69, 77min-try New Zealand, Thompson; conv. Slade-7-76, 79min-try New Zealand, S. Williams; conv. Slade-7-83.
 


For the match against All Blacks, head coach John Kirwan chose members to save major players to win the match five days later against Tonga and the following match against Canada. New Zealand was also without captain Richard McCaw and stand-off Daniel Carter due to injury, but they had almost all of their best members. In the forth minute of the match, Japan passed the ball with a quick counter from a turn-over to centre Ma'a Allan Nonu, full-back Isaia Toeava, and finally centre Conrad Smith score the opening points, then defended well to prevent ALL Blacks from getting additional points for a while.
Flanker Michael Leitch caught the ball from a lineout awarded to New Zealand, then scrum-half Atsushi Hiwasa smashed Andy Ellis opposite with a quick start. In the 10th minute, New Zealand tried a penalty goal while getting booed by the local fans, but stand-off Colin Slade failed it. This could be said that it was an evidence that they were bothered with Japan's persistent play. Given Japan often failed at the beginning of a match in those days, also considering the fact that the opponent was New Zealand who was 1st in the world rankings, it was a relatively good beginning since they survived the first 15 minutes with just a seven-point loss of one try and one goal.
The fact that head coach Henry had been vigilant before the match saying, “Japan is a team with a good structure,” also might have made New Zealand's fifteen play carefully. But for the team which was definitely number one in the world in attacking power, 15 minutes was long enough to identify the opponent's weak points. In the 16th minute of the match, they collapsed Japan's defense with a maul, then passed the ball to centre Nonu and full-back Erwa again, and wing Richard Kahui already scored the third try in this World Cup. All Blacks geared up quickly. After that, they scored additional four tries until half-time to make it 38-0 at the end of the first half. “We failed 13 tackles just in the first half. With a status like this, it is difficult to fight against New Zealand,” said head coach John Kirwan. As he pointed out, Japan, with mainly younger players, was unable to stop the All Blacks attacks as time passed. The final score was 83-7. Still, just like the scene Japan fought back in Bloemfontein 16 years ago was impressive (even while the number of tries itself was two), the only try Japan scored on this day was also admirable enough.