Test Match No. 293: New Zealand comes to Japan

日本語 Photo Journal
2 November 2013; G: Chichibunomiya; R: Stuart Berry (SA)
●Japan 6-54 New Zealand○
 
Data:
2/11/2013, NZ 2nd Japan tour
Japan 6 NZ 54
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium
Half-time 6 - 28
Refree: Stuart Bary (SA)
Crowd: 20,454
 
JAPAN: 15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Toshiaki Hirose (capt) (23 Yoshikazu Fujita 57), 13 Male Sau, 12 Craig Wing (21 Kosei Ono 75), 11 Kenki Fukuoka (23 Yuta Imamura 78), 10 Harumichi Tatekawa (22 Yu Tamura 27), 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani (20 Takashi Kikutani 40), 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Hitoshi Ono, 4 Shoji Ito (19 Luke Thompson 65), 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama (18 Hiroshi Yamashita 56), 2 Shota Horie (16 Yusuke Aoki 76), 1 Masataka Mikami (17 Yusuke Nagae 76).
Reserves:
Coach: Eddie Jones.
Tries: Fukuoka (2); Conversions: Goromaru (2).
 
NZ: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Charles Piutau, 13 Ben Smith (23 Ryan Crotty 51), 12 Francis Saili, 11 Frank Halai, 10 Daniel Carter (22 Tom Taylor 51), 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow (21 Aaron Smith 67), 8 Richard McCaw (capt), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Dominic Bird (20 Luke Whitelock 57), 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Dane Coles (16 Andrew Hore 64), 1 Wyatt Crockett (17 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen 67).
Reserves: 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Brodie Retallic.
Coach: Steve Hansen.
Tries: Charles Piutau (2), Sam Cane, Ben Smith, Richard McCaw, Jeremy Thrush, Frank Halai, Beauden Barrett; Conversions: Daniel Carter (5), Beauden Barrett (2).
Yellow Cards: Sam Cane (81, sin-bin).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 9min-try NZ, Charles Piutau; conv. Daniel Carter-0-7, 13min-pen Japan, Ayumu Goromaru-3-7, 22min-pen Japan, Ayumu Goromaru-6-7, 26min-try NZ, Sam Cane; conv. Daniel Carter-6-14, 28min-try NZ, Ben Smith; conv. Daniel Carter-6-21, 31min-try NZ, Richard McCaw; conv. Daniel Carter-6-28, 50min-try NZ, Jeremy Thrush; conv. Daniel Carter-6-35, 57min-try NZ, Frank Halai; conv. Beauden Barrett (missed)-6-40, 66min-try NZ, Beauden Barrett; conv. Beauden Barrett-6-47, 73min-try NZ, Charles Piutau; conv. Beauden Barrett-6-54.
 


The New Zealand national team the All Blacks, who were 1st in the world rankings, came to Japan to fight against them for the first time since 1987. Head coach Eddie Jones was hospitalized after suffering a stroke just before this match, yet the morale of the Japan's players was not lowered. On the 2nd of November at Chichibunomiya filled with a big audience of 20,454 people, Japan under the interim head coach Scott Wisemantel fought without hesitating from the beginning.
As can be seen from the fact that they turned over New Zealand's ball with a fast scrum towards the start, Japan ran neck and neck with the top ranked New Zealand. Of course New Zealand attacked at times, yet wing Kenki Fukuoka, who said “Our defense was not challenged or broken. It was great that we chased them to the outer space and pushed out to a touch at the end,” fought well even while he was in defense, pushing out famous number 8 Richard McCaw to the touchline with a rough tackle. “I was happy to see we can make even the world number one opponent frustrated when we play rugby at our best.”
Lock Hitoshi Ohno looked back their play for the first 20 minutes of the match like this, who had experience of fighting against New Zealand (lost 7-83) also in the World Cup two years before. In the 22nd minute, full-back Ayumu Goromaru scored the second penalty goal on the day to make the score 6-7. The match was exactly like full-back Goromaru, who kicked the second penalty goal coolly, had said, “We want to make it a low-score match”, on the day before. Japan failed in conceding the opening try because of a mistake in handling a high punt in the 8th minute of the second half, however, the packed Chichibunomiya rugby stadium in Tokyo was filled with the feeling “Japan may still win”.
Unfortunately, Japan was able to fight back against the world strongest team only for the first 20 minutes. As the interim head coach Scott Wisemantel said, “Breakdowns were the single biggest reason for the loss. The posture of the ball carrier was high. Also, New Zealand's approaches by the second player were apparently quicker than Japan's,” The All Blacks kept scoring tries by quickly counter attacking from a turnover at a breakdown or as a result of Japan's mistakes, and eventually the number of tries New Zealand scored was a total of 8. Fine kicks by a great performer, stand-off Dan Carter, also broke Japan's defense effectively. Just before the match ended, Japan approached New Zealand's goal from successive attacks, confident in the knowledge that they had scored at least one try in every match since they started playing under head coach Jones. At the end, wing Fukuoka jumped into the left corner, however, McCaw made a try saving tackle determinedly, as if it was revenge for the beginning. The touch was on the early side, according to TMO. Eventually, the match against the world's strongest team ended 6-54 while Japan scored no try. The point gap was decreased to 48 points from the above-mentioned 75 points two years ago in the World Cup. When they came to Japan 26 years ago and in the World Cup of 1995, Japan lost by 100-points.
Japan cannot be proud of the 6-54 score, however, it was also true that the members who fought against the world's strongest team on the day feelt that they would be able to decrease the point gap by more than 48 points.