Test Match No. 321: 8th World Cup, game 4

日本語 Photo Journal
11 October 2015; G: Gloucester; R: Glen Jackson (NZ)
○Japan 28-18 the United States●
 
Data:
11/10/2015, 8th RWC2015 England 4th match
Japan 28 United States 18
Kingsholm, Gloucester
Half-time 17 - 8
Refree: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Crowd: 14,517
 
JAPAN: 15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Yoshikazu Fujita, 13 Harumichi Tatekawa, 12 Craig Wing, 11 Kotaro Matsushima (23 Karne Hesketh 49,57) , 10 Kosei Ono (23 Karne Hesketh 73), 9 Fumiaki Tanaka (22 Atsushi Hiwasa 63) , 8 Ryu Holani (20 Amanaki Lelei Mafi 40), 7 Michael Broadhurst (21 Hendrik Tui 73), 6 Michael Leitch (capt), 5 Justin Ives (19 Shinya Makabe 68), 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita (18 Kensuke Hatakeyama 40), 2 Shota Horie (16 Takeshi Kizu 77), 1 Keita Inagaki (17 Masataka Mikami 59).
Coach: Eddie Jones.
Reserves:
Coach: Eddie Jones.
Tries: Matsushima, Fujita, Mafi; Conversions: Goromaru (2); Penalty Goals: Goromaru (3).
 
UNITED STATES: 15 Chris Wyles (capt), 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Thretton Palamo, 11 Zack Test, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Alastair McFarland (21 Danny Barrett 63), 5 Greg Peterson (20 John Quill 77), 4 Heyden Smith (19 Cam Dolan 31), 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Zach Fenoglio (16 Phil Thiel 64), 1 Eric Fry (61,71).
Reserves: 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Chris Baumann, 22 Niku Kruger, 23 Folau Niua.
Coach: Mike Tolkin.
Tries: Ngwenya, Wyles ; Conversions: MacGinty; Penalty Goals: MacGinty (2).
Yellow Cards: Eric Fry (61, sin-bin).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 5min-pen United States, MacGinty -0-3, 7min-try Japan, Kotaro Matsushima ;conv. Ayumu Goromaru-7-3, 24min-try United States, Takudzwa Ngwenya; conv. AJ MacGinty(missed)-7-8, 28min-try Japan, Yoshikazu Fujita ;conv. Ayumu Goromaru-14-8, 33min-pen Japan, Ayumu Goromaru-17-8, 44min-pen Japan, Ayumu Goromaru-20-8, 55min-pen United States, MacGinty-20-11, 62min-try Japan, Amanaki Lelei Mafi ;conv. Ayumu Goromaru(missed)-25-11, 71min-try United States, Chris Wyles; conv. AJ MacGinty-25-18, 44min-pen Japan, Ayumu Goromaru-28-18.
 


Japan, who had developed a solid ability, won this match held in Gloucester against the United Stats on 11 October easily, with a score of 28-18, achieving the third win. In this match, wing Yoshikazu Fujita, who head coach Jones used “intuitively”, played outstandingly. In the 7th minute of the first half, he was the starting point of Matsushima's try, and in the 28th minute, he joined a maul in front of the goal and scored a try by himself. Head coach Jones said, “Today's match was a players' game. They amazingly stopped an aggressive attack by the United States,” and were satisfied with the players' improvement. Unfortunately, Japan didn't reach South Africa (1st) or Scotland (2nd) with a total point difference, therefore they didn't go to the final tournament, however, Japan made several records such as their first win in 24 years, the first three wins in the preliminary league, and becoming the first team who was not able to go to the final tournament even while winning three matches in the preliminary league. This was mainly thanks to head coach Jones's ability to calculate back in order to bring the best to the RWC matches and to give the players hard training, but the three wins were also the result of the players who had withstood the training, and the staff who had supported it.
Applause for Japan didn't stop in England, and Japan received honors such as “the cleanest and most disciplined team.” Especially, for the match in which Japan came from behind South Africa with their last-minute brave decisions, comments such as “It made me proud” came from people all around the world. Also in Japan, interest in rugby increased suddenly, and it seemed that the praise for Japan's great win wouldn't stop for a while.