Test Match No. 294: Japan tour Europe, game 1

日本語 Photo Journal
9 November 2013: G: Edinburgh (Murrayfield S); R: Ben O'Keeffe (NZ)
●Japan 17-42 Scotland○
 
Data:
9/11/2013, European tour 2013
Japan 17 Scotland 42
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Referee: JP Doil (England)
Attendance: 32,680
 
JAPAN: 15 Ayumu Goromaru (77), 14 Toshiaki Hikose (capt), 13 Male Sau, 12 Craig Wing (22 Yu Tamura 71), 11 Kenki Fukuoka (23 Yoshikazu Fujita 77), 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka (21 Atsushi Hiwasa 60), 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani (20, 30) (20 Takashi Kikutani 70), 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Shinya Makabe, 4 Luke Thompson (19 Hitoshi Ono 65), 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama (18 Hiroshi Yamashita 33), 2 Shota Horie (16 Yusuke Aoki 77), 1 Masataka Mikami (17 Yusuke Nagae 77).
Reserves:
Coach: Eddie Jones.
Tries: Kenki Fukuoka (2); Conversions: Ayumu Goromaru (2); Penalty Goals: Goromaru.
Yellow Cards: Holani (20, sin-bin), Goromaru (77, sin-bin).
 
Scotland: 15 Sean Maitland (23 Duncan Taylor 75), 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Ruaridh Jackson (22 Duncan Weir 65), 9 Greig Laidlaw (21 Henry Pyrgos 73), 8 David Denton, 7 Kelly Brown, 6 Alasdair Strokosch (20 John Barclay 70), 5 Alastair Kellock (19 Richie Gray 57), 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Euan Murray (18 Geoff Cross 73), 2 Ross Ford (16 Pat MacArthur 70), 1 Ryan Grant (17 Alasdair Dickinson 28).
Reserves:
Coach: Scott Johnson.
Tries: Tommy Seymour (2), Greig Laidlaw, Alasdair Dickinson, Duncan Weir, Sean Lamont; Conversions: Greig Laidlaw (2), Duncan Weir; Penalty Goals: Greig Laidlaw (2).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 6min-pen Scotland, Greig Laidlaw-0-3, 21min-pen Scotland, Greig Laidlaw-0-6, 32min-try Scotland, Tommy Seymour; conv. Greig Laidlaw (missed)-0-11, 35min-pen Japan, Ayumu Goromaru-3-11, 42min-try Japan, Kenki Fukuoka; conv. Ayumu Goromaru-10-11, 46min-try Scotland, Greig Laidlaw; conv. Greig Laidlaw-10-18, 51min-try Japan, Kenki Fukuoka; conv. Ayumu Goromaru-17-18, 54min-try Scotland, Tommy Seymour; conv. Greig Laidlaw (missed)-17-23, 63min-try Scotland, Alasdair Dickinson; conv. Greig Laidlaw-17-30, 68min-try Scotland, Duncan Weir; conv. Greig Laidlaw (missed)-17-35, 77min-try Scotland, Sean Lamont; conv. Duncan Weir-17-42.
 


At 2:30pm, the temperature was 6 degrees Celsius, and the rain had stopped. The match started with a kickoff by stand-off Kosei Ono. Both teams moved the ball actively from the beginning. In the 4th minute of the first half, a scrum was awarded to Scotland. Japan's players were stable with low postures. However, prop Masataka Mikami incurred a penalty for collapsing by touching with his hand. The bad pitch conditions were exposed. In the 6th minute, Scotland scrum-half Laidlaw scored a penalty goal to make the score 3-0. In the 9th minute, Japan pushed in a scrum awarded to Scotland, however, they collapsed again. The referee explained “The second row collapsed.” Also after that, Japan incurred unreasonable penalties in scrums again and again, but Japan was patient against this pinch with their systematic defense they had practiced. In the 21st minute, Scotland scrum-half Laidlaw scored a penalty goal again, however, Japan's forwards put up a good fight, for example stealing the ball from a lineout awarded to the opponent. In the 31st minute, Japan conceded a try to wing Seymour after being attacked by Scotland's forwards vertically and consecutively in a pinch in front of the goal (11-0). But just after that, Japan's backs showed good enough play including an open attack from a lineout, wing Kenki Fukuoka receiving a long pass from centre Craig Wing. The first half ended with a score of 11-3, after full-back Ayumu Goromaru scored a penalty goal in return.
The attacking and defending for the first 15 minutes of the second half was worth seeing. First, Japan made a quick attack from the opponent's penalty in a scrum awarded to Scotland, and wing Toshiaki Hirose got out. Japan moved the ball from a ruck in the opponent's territory to the left to Tanaka, Ono, wing Sau, Goromaru and Fukuoka with short passes, and scored a try in the left corner. Goromaru also scored the conversion goal to narrow the point gap to one, 11-10. In the 6th minute, Scotland scrum-half Laidlaw scored a try back, five minute later, Japan made a turnover in a scrum in the middle right corner of Scotland's territory, then made a left open. Goromaru and other players got out of the line and approached the goal line, and Fukuoka, who was pulled down, received the ball by a hand pass and made it to the in-goal. The point gap was down to one (18-17). But this didn't last long, since Japan missed handling of the ball from the kick-off just after this and conceded a try to widen the point gap. In the 17th minute, number 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, who had worked well in defending that day, was sent to the sin-bin (a temporal ejection of 10 minutes) after a penalty for throwing down the ball from a ruck was awarded to the opponent. Japan was patient and fought with struggling defenses, however, the point gap was gradually widened. “We conceded three tries when the number of players was 14 due to the sin-bin. The players should have learned about gamesmanship,” the interim head coach Wisemantel reflected, yet he was still considering the details of the match in a positive way.