25 June 2022: G: Mikuni World Stadium (Japan); R: Graham Cooper (Aus)
○Japan 43-7 Uruguay●
Data:
25/6/2022, Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2022
Japan 43 – 7 Uruguay
Mikuni World Stadium, Japan
Half-time 19 - 0
Refree: Graham Cooper (Aus)
Crowd: 11,664
JAPAN: 15 Ryuji Noguchi, 14 Gerhard Van Den Heever, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Yusuke Kajimura, 11 Siosaia Fifita (23 Shogo Nakano 65), 10 Takuya Yamasawa (22 Seungshin Lee 62), 9 Naoto Saito (21 Daiki Nakajima 62), 8 Faulua Makisi, 7 Ben Gunter (20 Masato Furukawa 57), 6 Michael Leitch, 5 Warner Dearns (19 Sanaila Waqa 50), 4 Jack Cornelsen, 3 Yusuke Kizu (18 Asaeli Ai Valu 50), 2 Atsushi Sakate (capt) (16 Shota Horie 62), 1 Keita Inagaki (17 Shogo Miura 81).
Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Jamie Joseph.
Tries: Atsushi Sakate, Dylan Riley, Ben Gunter, Gerhard Van Den Heever, Penalty Try, Yusuke Kajimura ; Conversions: Seungshin Lee; Penalty Goals: Takuya Yamasawa(3)
Yellow Cards: Keita Inagaki
Uruguay: 15 RODRIGO SILVA, 14 JUAN MANUEL ALONSO (22 MATEO VINALS 50), 13 NICOLAS FREITAS (23 BALTAZAR AMAYA 62), 12 ANDRES VILASECA (capt), 11 BAUTISTA BASSO, 10 FELIPE ETCHEVERRY, 9 TOMAS INCIARTE (21 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ 70), 8 MANUEL ARDAO, 7 SANTIAGO CIVETTA, 6 LUCAS BIANCHI (20 TOMAS ETCHEVERRY 57), 5 DIEGO MAGNO (19 TOMAS ETCHEVERRY 70), 4 ERIC DOSANTOS, 3 IGNACIO PECULO (18 MATHIAS FRANCO 70), 2 GUILLERMO PUJADAS (16 EMILIANO FACCENNINI 70), 1 JUAN ECHEVERRIA (17 EDGARDO BENITEZ 59).
Reserves:
Coach: Esteban Meneses.
Tries: MANUEL ARDAO; Conversions: FELIPE ETCHEVERRY ; Penalty Goals:
Scoring sequence (Japan’s score shown first): 5min-try Japan, Atsushi Sakate-5-0; conv. Takuya Yamasawa(missed)-5-0, 9min-pen Japan, Takuya Yamasawa-8-0, 16min-pen Japan, Takuya Yamasawa11-0, 23min-pen Japan, Takuya Yamasawa-14-0, 38min-try Japan, Dylan Riley-19-0; conv. Takuya Yamasawa(missed)-19-0, 50min-try Japan, Ben Gunter-24-0; conv. Takuya Yamasawa(missed)-24-0, 58min-try Japan, Gerhard Van Den Heever 29-0; conv. Takuya Yamasawa(missed)-29-0, 61min-try Japan, Penalty Try-36-0, 63min-try Japan, Yusuke Kajimura-41-0; conv. Seungshin Lee -43-0, 74min-try Uruguay, MANUEL ARDAO-43-5; conv. FELIPE ETCHEVERRY-43-7
The addition of first capped players, Van den Heever, Sanaila Waqa, and Seungsin Lee, showed Japan team's strong determination to develop a good player’s layers for the upcoming RWC 2023 in France. Whereas, Uruguay had an issue on conditioning in the previous match, showed their fighting spirits and attitudes.
Japan attacked immediately after the first-half kick-off and in the 5th minute, from a lineout on the right in front of the Uruguayan goal, a maul was pushed firmly into the right corner and Captain Sakate scored a try (Yamasawa missed the conversion to make it 5-0). Japan's momentum continued to overwhelm Uruguay, winning penalties, and Yamasawa steadily converted both short and long penalty goals in the 9th, 16th and 23rd minutes (14-0). Then there were moments of remaining in a balance and Uruguay attacked Japan's territory, but Japan's low tackles stopped Uruguay's attempts to invade and kept the flow of the game going. In the 38th minute of the first half, Kajimura and Van den Heever carried the ball forward with their feet during Uruguay's open attack in the middle of the field, Dylan Riley effortlessly grounded the ball which went in-goal for additional point and the first-half ended (19-0 following Yamasawa failed conversion).
Even in the second half, Japan did not slow down their attack, and in the 10th minute, as in the first half, they pushed a lineout maul in front of the Uruguay's goal, and Ben Gunter scored a try this time (24-0 following Yamasawa failed conversion).In the 15th minute, Japan again pushed a lineout maul in front of the Uruguay goal, but when they decided they could not push through, Sakate side-attacked and passed the ball to Saito and Van den Heever to score a try (24-0 following Yamazawa failed the conversion).As Japan dominated the game and won rucks consecutively and Uruguay began to look tired, in the 21st minute, Uruguay No. 7 Civetta committed deliberated knock-on to attempt to prevent Yamasawa from passing a long ball to Noguchi, who was running through outer space which resulted in awarding a penalty try to Japan and issuing yellow card to Urugauy No. 7 Civetta (36-0). In the 23rd minute, the centre, Kajimura passed to Makisi, who ran vertically, made a big gain, and Kajimura again followed up again by crossing the field for receiving a pass and scored a try (43-0 following Lee succeeded conversion). The game was in the bag for Japan, and they began to lose their concentration, and Uruguay took advantage, with the diminutive No. 8 Aldao scoring a try in the 34th minute, just like he did in the previous match.
The team's performance is consistently improving, with the RWC 2019 experienced players showing their stable performance and the players returned to squad and first capped players showing their own unique playing styles which made us eagerly anticipating the upcoming match against France.