20 November 2022: G: Le Stadium (Toulouse); R: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
●Japan 17-35 France○
Data:
20/11/2022, Lipovitan D Challenge Tour 2022
Japan 17 – 35 France
Le Stadium (Toulouse) , France
Half-time 3 – 21
Refree: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Crowd: 30,750
JAPAN: 15 Ryohei Yamanaka (22 Shota Nakao 75), 14 Dylan Riley, 13 Shogo Nakano, 12 Ryoto Nakamura (23 Kotaro Matsushima 53), 11 Siosaia Fifita, 10 Seungshin Lee, 9 Naoto Saito (21 Yutaka Nagare 51), 8 Kazuki Himeno (20 Tevita Tatafu 51), 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Michael Leitch, 5 Jack Cornelsen 4 Warner Dearns (19 Wimpie Van Der Walt 75), 3 Jiwon Koo (18 Shuhei Takeuchi 75), 2 Atsushi Sakate (capt) (16 Kosuke Horikoshi 75), 1 Keita Inagaki (17 Craig Millar 56).
Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Jamie Joseph.
Tries: Naoto Saito, Siosaia Fifita ; Conversions: Seungshin Lee (2) ; Penalty Goals: Seungshin Lee
Yellow Cards:
France: 15 Thomas RAMOS, 14 Damian PENAUD, 13 Gael FICKOU (21 Sekou MACALOU 16) , 12 Jonathan DANTY, 11 Yoram MOEFANA, 10 Romain NTAMACK (23 Matthieu JALIBERT 57), 9 Maxime LUCU (22 Baptiste COUILLOUD 70), 8 Gregory ALLDRITT, 7 Charles OLLIVON, 6 Anthony JELONCH, 5 Romain TAOFIFENUA (20 Bastien Chalureau 59), 4 Cameron WOKI (19 Florian Verhaeghe 75), 3 Uini ATONIO (18 Sipili FALATEA 46 ), 2 Julien MARCHAND (16 Peato MAUVAKA 59), 1 Reda WARDI (17 Dany PRISO 61).
Reserves:
Coach: Fabien Galthie.
Tries: Damian PENAUD (2), Charles OLLIVON, Anthony JELONCH; Conversions: Thomas RAMOS (3) ;
Penalty Goals: Thomas RAMOS (3).
Yellow Cards:
Scoring sequence (Japan’s score shown first): 5min-try France, Damian PENAUD-0-5; conv. Thomas RAMOS (missed)-0-5,13min-pen France, Thomas RAMOS-0-8, 17min-pen France, Thomas RAMOS-0-11, 17min-pen Japan, Seungshin Lee-3-11, 31min-pen France, Thomas RAMOS-3-14, 36min-try France, Charles OLLIVON-3-19; conv. Thomas RAMOS-3-21, 42min-try Japan, Naoto Saito-8-21; conv. Seungshin Lee-10-21, 60min-try France, Damian PENAUD-10-26; conv. Thomas RAMOS-10-28, 63 min-try Japan, Siosaia Fifita-15-28; conv. Seungshin Lee-17-28, 73min-try France, Anthony JELONCH-17-33; conv.Thomas RAMOS-17-35,
Attention was focused on how Japan, who were completely defeated by England last week, would stand up France, who were in top form with 12 straight test match wins. Labuschagne returned to the starting forward line-up, with Tatafu relegated to the reserves as a super sub. In the backs, Saito and Lee started as halfbacks, with Nagare as a reserve and Yamazawa left out of the squad, while Nakao, who would be making his first cap if he plays, was named as a reserve for his first test match. With the emphasis on defense, Nakano was moved to centre and Riley was moved to wing. Matsushima was moved to the reserves as an attacking player for the second half, and van den Heever was left out of the squad.
The first half began with a kick-off from Japan (Lee). Despite the weather forecast calling for clear skies, it started to rain. Fullback Yamanaka caught France's kick that was meant to earn a point and passed it to Riley, who was number 14 today, for a counter attack. After gaining 10m, Himeno broke away from the ruck and ran alone, approaching 10m in front of the goal. After that, SH Saito's good passing to win rucks in succession in front of France goal. France was unable to resist Japan combined attack of the FW and BK, and committed an offside. Lee's touch kick led to a lineout 5m to the right of the French goal. Sakate took the ball from the maul and Riley charged forward, but Warner knocked on at the ruck, resulting in a scrum for France. After Japan's collapsing foul, France kicked for touch from a penalty kick and recovered to 10m line to the left of the French area. The Japanese FW put pressure on the ball that had spilled to the French side, but France avoided it by forming a ruck, and SH Luc tried to recover territory with a kick again. However, Japan charged the kick, and Leitch picked up the loose ball and attacked. However, the French DF also came forward often and was tough, and the ball possession continued to change hands frequently between the two teams.
In the 7th minute, France won consecutive rucks in the Japanese half, and with the rush of No. 2 Marchand, who was in top form that day, carried the ball to the center of the Japanese half 22m. From that ruck, they moved to the left, and No. 10 Nutamack, judging that Japan's line defense was sufficient, kicked a grubber kick behind the line. And Penaud ran in and kicked the ball directly into the in-goal. Yamanaka, who was struggling with the poor ground conditions that day, hit the ball with his hand just before the goal, but if he hadn't touched it, it might have crossed the dead goal line. Penaud ran in and held the ball that was stuck in the in-goal, scoring the first try (Ramos's missed goal made it 0-5). After that, perhaps considering the rain, both sides exchanged kicking attacks, but Sakate rushed from the ruck of Lee's counter attack, but France interfered with Inagaki's support and Sakate was isolated, and was hit by a jackal from Marchand. Up until this point, France had been using penalty kicks to gain territory, but as if they recognized the tenacity of Japan's defense, they didn't push too hard, and Ramos scored penalty goals in the 13th and 17th minutes to extend their lead to 0-11. In the 21st minute, Japan's fly-half Lee returned a penalty goal to score the first point (3-11), but in the 31st minute, France's Ramos returned another penalty goal. Japan wanted to end the first half with a try, but they made mistakes and were unable to attack, and in the 36th minute, France's scrum-half Luc ran boldly along the line and ran alone, and in the end, No. 7 Ollivon, who was following Luc, and dived into the in-goal unmarked (Ramos' goal made it 3-21).
Anticipation was building as to what instructions Japan would receive at halftime, and two minutes into the second half, SH Saito floated a pass from a ruck in front of the 10m line in the center of the Japanese half to CTB Nakano, who cut through the French DF line beautifully. He used his speed and steps to attract two backups, who passed the ball to Saito, who followed up and dived in from 3m in front of the in-goal with a sliding for a brilliant try (Li's goal made it 10-21). The French DF was responding to the expand attacks of Japan, But Japan vertical cut-in attack beside the crowded area seemed very effective. If they had been able to add three points from a penalty kick here, they would have been able to put pressure on France, but Japan was unable to attack, and in the 60th minute, France's No. 23 Jalibert received a Japanese kick on the right side of their own 22m line and kicked a short punt vertically. After missing Yamanaka, who had his foot caught on the ground and fallen, France regained possession of the ball and passed it back to No. 20 Charullot in front of the goal, who made a wide move to the left from a ruck just in front of the Japanese goal, and wing Penaud scored his second try of the day (Ramos' goal made it 10-28). There were concerns that Japan would collapse at this point, but they did not flinch, and immediately afterwards, in the 63rd minute, after a brilliant touch kick by penalty , Leitch secured the ball at a lineout on the left in front of the French goal, which was passed by Labuschagne to Sakate, who ran open, and Fifita ran powerfully into the space inside created by Leitch's run and Tatafu's follow-up to the outside, and ran through the empty space to score a try in the in-goal (Li's goal made it 17-28). France should have been keeping an eye on Tatafu's vertical charge, but Japan brilliantly outwitted him and led to Fifita's try. Then, in the 66th minute, France attacked the center of the Japanese 22m line and spread out to the right, and finally No. 12 Dantie dived into the in-goal, but Nakano's tenacious tackle made the try invalid as it was on the in-goal line, resulting in a brilliant try save. However, Japan continued to make challenges after this, but they were unable to score any additional points. Conversely, in the 73rd minute, France spread out to the right from a ruck 10m into the center of the Japanese line, and No. 23 Jalibert, who was playing as a fly-half, raised a short punt, which he caught beautifully and passed to the forward, who spread out to the right from a ruck in front of the goal, and No. 6 Geronche, who followed from the far outside No. 12 Dantie, made a return pass and dove into the in-goal (Ramos' goal made it 17-35). All of Japan's players tackled well that day, were highly conscious, and attacked boldly, but they were unable to score any additional points and could not make it a close game. With 10 months to go until next year's RWC 2023 tournament in France, hopefully they can beat England or Argentina and advance to the final tournament for the second consecutive year.