Test Match No. 338: Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2017, game 2

日本語 Photo Journal
17 June 2017; G: Shizuoka (Ecopa S); R: Marius van der Westhuizen (SA)
●Japan 22-50 Ireland○
 
Data:
17/6/2017, Ireland 3rd Japan tour 1st Match
Japan 22 Ireland 50
Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka
Half-time: 3-31
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SA)
Crowd: 27,381
 
JAPAN: 15 Ryuji Noguchi, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 William Tupou, 12 Derek Carpenter (22 Ryohei Yamanaka 67), 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Yu Tamura (23 Rikiya Matsuda 58), 9 Fumiaki Tanaka (21 Yutaka Nagare 53), 8 Amanaki Lelei Mafi (19 Hendrik Tui 40), 7 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 6 Michael Leitch (capt), 5 Uwe Helu (20 Shuhei Matsuhashi 53), 4 Kotaro Yatabe, 3 Heiichiro Ito (24, 34) (18 Takuma Asahara 58), 2 Shota Horie (16 Yusuke Niwai 53), 1 Keita Inagaki (17 Shintaro Ishihara 40).
Reserves:
Coach: Jamie Joseph.
Tries: Noguchi, Fukuoka, Nagare; Conversions: Matsuda (2); Penalty Goals: Tamura.
Yellow Cards: Ito (24, sin-bin).
 
IRELAND: 15 Simon Zebo (23 Tiernan O'halloran 40), 14 Andrew Conway (51, 61), 13 Garry Ringrose (21 Kieran Marmion 67), 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Paddy Jackson (22 Rory O'Loughlin 64), 9 Luke Magrass, 8 Jack Conan (20 Jack O'Donoghue 75), 7 Dan Leavy, 6 Rhys Ruddock (capt), 5 Devin Toner (19 Kieran Treadwell 64), 4 Quinn Roux, 3 John Ryan (18 Finlay Bealham 64), 2 Niall Scannell (16 James Tracy 54), 1 Cian Healy (17 Dave Kilcoyne 58).
Reserves:
Coach: Josef Schmidt.
Tries: Keith Earls (2), Dan Leavy (2), Jack Conan (2), Garry Ringrose; Conversions: Paddy Jackson (5); Penalty Goals: Paddy Jackson.
Yellow Cards: Conway (51, sin-bin).
 
Scoring sequence (Japan's score shown first): 6min-pen Ireland, Paddy Jackson-0-3, 11min-try Ireland, Keith Earls; conv. Paddy Jackson-0-10, 14min-Pen Japan, Yu Tamura-3-10, 24min-try Ireland, Dan Leavy; conv. Paddy Jackson-3-17, 28min-try Ireland, Dan Leavy; conv. Paddy Jackson-3-24, 32min-try Ireland, Jack Conan; conv. Paddy Jackson-3-31, 46min-try Ireland, Jack Conan; conv. Paddy Jackson-3-38, 59min-try Japan, Ryuji Noguchi; conv. Rikiya Matsuda-10-38, 65min-try Ireland, Garry Ringrose; conv. Paddy Jackson-10-45, 72min-try Ireland, Keith Earls; conv. Rory Scannell (missed)-10-50, 76min-try Japan, Kenki Fukuoka; conv. Rikiya Matsuda (missed)-15-50, 78min-try Japan, Yutaka Nagare; conv. Rikiya Matsuda-22-50.
 


In the first match against Ireland, Japan made mistakes and gained penalties under the opponent's high pressure and lost completely, while Ireland showed the real power of a Tier 1 country. In the beginning, scrum-half Fumiaki Tanaka repeated kicks to behind the defense as planned. The first try chance came just after Ireland stand-off Buddy Jackson scored the opening penalty goal (in the 6th minute of the first half). Flanker Michael Leitch picked up the opponent's missed ball and went forward, stand-off Yu Tamura kicked the ball to the left corner of Ireland's goal, and centre Tupou William chased the ball to the big cheer of 27,318 people. Japan caught the players who came back hard just before the goal line, however, Ireland's players appeared one after another and they kept the ball. Just after it, in the 11th minute of the first half, Japan was pressurised in a scrum awarded to Japan near the halfway line, Ireland's number 8 Jack Conan got out, and Ireland's wing Keith Earls scored a try. In the 14th minute, Japan scored three points with Yu Tamura's penalty goal. In the 16th minute, Tamura kicked the ball along the ground to the right corner, then Tupou tackled again. A ruck was formed just before the goal line, but Japan lost the chance of a second try with an offside penalty. In the 24th minute, in a ruck which approached the goal line, Japan's prop Heiichiro Ito was sent to the sin-bin as he was considered to have used his hand while falling down (a temporal ejection). Japan conceded three tries for the 10 minutes, when they were with 14 players. Japan was not able to pressurise the opponent with their systematic defence, which made individual tackles weak. It was a bad cycle.
When the second half started with 3-31, Japan reduced penalties obtained, increased the accuracy of tackles, and started counter attacks. From the beginning of the second half, Japan used number 8 Hendrik Tui who had breakthrough power. Fresh players such as hooker Yusuke Niwai, flanker Shuhei Matsuhashi and scrum-half Yutaka Nagare moved speedily to create opportunities, in the 19th minute, full-back Ryuji Noguchi found the opponent's defense was disturbed, fought off two tacklers with steps and hand-offs, and scored a try in the right middle of the in-goal (10-38). Noguchi's fielding and defense against the opponent's kicks were stable. His presence was becoming greater in each match. Several minutes later, Japan had an unfortunate scene. While reducing the defenders in front of their eye with consecutive attacks, centre Derek Carpenter kicked the ball to a place where the opponent's player was waiting by accident, and Japan conceded a try in attacking and defending after that. If Japan could score a try here, the gap of the final score would be smaller.
For the kicking strategy by Jamie Japan, appropriate decisions were required. Japan made many suspicious kicks, and the defense to get the ball back after a kick was also not good. Japan had plenty of problems, including pressurised scrums. Even while Ireland's players were superior in physical size, they didn't depend on just power, but they had a big advantage on Japan in the degree of penetration of logical strategy and tactics, such as the two tries they scored in a pre-arranged play from a lineout. (from the Rugby Magazine, August 2017)