Test Match No. 319: 8th World Cup, game 2

日本語 Photo Journal
23 September 2015; G: Gloucester; R: John Lacey (IRE)
●Japan 10-45 Scotland○
 
Data:
23/9/2015, 8th RWC2015 England 2nd match
Japan 10 Scotland 45
Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester
Half-time 7 - 12
Refree: John Lacey (Ireland)
Crowd: 14,354
 
JAPAN: 15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Kotaro Matsushima (23,33), 13 Male Sa'u, 12 Yu Tamura, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa (23 Karne Hesketh 72), 9 Fumiaki Tanaka (22 Atsushi Hiwasa 65) , 8 Amanaki Lelei Mafi (21 Hendrik Tui 45), 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Michael Leitch (capt), 5 Justin Ives (19 Shinya Makabe 61), 4 Luke Thompson (20 Shoji Ito 65), 3 Hiroshi Yamashita (18 Kensuke Hatakeyama 53), 2 Shota Horie (16 Takeshi Kizu 70), 1 Keita Inagaki (17 Masataka Mikami 40).
Reserves:
Coach: Eddie Jones.
Tries: Mafi; Conversions: Goromaru; Penalty Goals: Goromaru.
Yellow Cards: Matsushima (23, sin-bin).
 
SCOTLAND: 15 Stuart Hogg (23 Sean Maitland 66), 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Mark Bennett (22 Peter Horne 75), 12 Matt Scott, 11 Sean Lamont 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (capt), 8 David Denton, 7 John Hardie, 6 Ryan Wilson (20 Josh Strauss), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist (19 Richie Gray 50), 3WP Nel (18 Jon Welsh 70), 2Ross Ford (16 Fraser Brown 70), 1 Alasdair Dickinson (Ryan Grant 66).
Reserves:
Coach: Vern Cotter.
Tries: Hardie, Bennett(2), Seymour, Russell; Conversions: Laidlaw (4); Penalty Goals: Laidlaw (4).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 3min-pen Scotland, Greig Laidlaw-0-3, 12min-pen Scotland, Greig Laidlaw-0-6, 15min-try Japan, Amanaki Lelei Mafi; conv. Ayumu Goromaru-7-6, 18min-pen Scotland, Greig Laidlaw-7-9, 20min-pen Scotland, Greig Laidlaw-7-12, 46min-pen Japan, Ayumu Goromaru-10-12, 48min-try Scotland, John Hardie; conv. Greig Laidlaw(missed)-10-17, 56min-try Scotland, Mark Bennett; conv. Greig Laidlaw-10-24, 64min-try Scotland, Tommy Seymour; conv. Greig Laidlaw-10-31, 69min-try Scotland, Mark Bennett; conv. Greig Laidlaw-10-38, 74min-try Scotland, Finn Russell; conv. Greig Laidlaw-10-45.
 


Since it was four days after the match against South Africa, Japan changed some members, letting veteran Hitoshi Ono have a rest. While they were able to break Scotland's defense many times by having players with breakthrouh power such as Amanaki Lelei Mafi as starting-lineup, the discipline of their defense was broken and they conceded lots of points.
The audience was almost full of 14,354 people. Since the kick-off at 2:30pm, Japan attacked aggressively but made a lot of mistakes and penalties. In the 13th minute of the first half, after they conceded two penalty goals, Amanaki Lelei Mafi scored a try in a maul from a lineout to come from behind 7-6. After that, Scotland scrum-half Laidlaw scored two penalty goals to make it 7-12. Just before the end of the first half with Scotland's lead, while just defending, Goromaru tackled the opponent's wing narrowly before the left corner to push out of the touch line, then the first half ended. A roaring applause was given for the tackle which prevented a loss.
At the beginning of the second half, Japan's Mafi attacked rushing, but he left the much after getting his foot injured. After that, Japan conceded a lot. “I don't want to make fatigue an excuse. When the first half ended, I thought we still had a possibility to win,” said head coach Jones in a chagrined tone.