7 September 2024: G: Kumagaya Rugby Stadium (Japan) ; R: Hollie Davidson (SRFU)
○Japan 41-24 USA●
Data:
7/9/2024, Pacific Nations Cup 2024
Japan 41 – 24 USA
Kumagaya Rugby Stadium (Japan)
Half-time 24 – 10
Refree: Hollie Davidson (SRFU)
Crowd: 10,677
JAPAN: 15 Takuya Yamasawa (22 Harumichi Tatekawa 52), 14 Jone Naikabula (23 Tomoki Osada 49) , 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Nicholas Mccuran, 11 Malo Tuitama , 10 Seungsin Lee, 9 Shinobu Fujiwara (21 Daiki Koyama 64 ), 8 Faulua Makisi (20 Isaiah Mapusua 51), 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 6 Tiennan Costley, 5 Warner Dearns, 4 Sanaila Waqa (19 Amato Fakatava 59), 3 Keijiro Tamefusa (18 Shuhei Takeuchi 46), 2 Atsushi Sakate (capt) (16 Mamoru Harada 37), 1 Shogo Miura (17 Takayoshi Mohara 49).
Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Eddie Jones.
Tries: Nicholas Mccuran , Sanaila Waqa, Mamoru Harada, Dylan Riley, Seungsin Lee, Malo Tuitama, Conversions: Seungsin Lee (5); Penalty Goals: Seungsin Lee (2) ; Drop Goals: Nothing
Red Cards: , Yellow Cards:
USA: 15 Mitch Wilson, 14 Conner Mooneyham, 13 Tavite Lopeti, 12 Tommaso Boni (23 Dominic Besag 65) , 11 Nate Augspurger, 10 Luke Carty, 9 Ruben de Haas (22 Tesimoni Tonga’uiha 52), 8 Jameson Fa’anana-Schultz (20 Thomas Tu’avao 70 ), 7 Cory Daniel (21 Tesimoni Tonga’uiha 49), 6 Paddy Ryan, 5 (c) Greg Peterson (19 Jason Damm 59), 4 Viliami Helu, 3 Alex Maughan (18 Paul Mullen 47), 2 Kapeli Pifeleti (16 Sean McNulty 62), 1 Jack Iscaro (17 Jake Turnbull 62).
Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Gaily Gold
Tries: Jameson Fa’anana-Schultz, Nate Augspurger (2) ; Conversions: Luke Carty (3) ;Penalty Goals: Luke Carty ;
Yellow Cards:
Scoring sequence (Japan’s score shown first): 5min-pg Japan, Seungsin Lee-3-0, 15min-try Japan,Nicholas Mccuran-8-0; conv. Seungsin Lee-10-0, 18min-pg USA, Luke Carty-10-3, 23min-pg Japan, Sanaila Waqa-15-3; conv. Seungsin Lee-17-3, 30min-try USA, Jameson Fa’anana-Schultz-17-8; conv. Luke Carty-17-10, 38min-try Japan, Mamoru Harada-22-10 ; conv. Seungsin Lee-24-10, 45min-try Japan, Dylan Riley-29-10; conv. Seungsin Lee-31-10, 51min-try USA, Nate Augspurger-31-15 ; conv. Luke Carty-31-17, 58min-try USA, Nate Augspurger-31-22 ; conv. Luke Carty-31-24, 62min-pg Japan, Seungsin Lee-34-24, 66min-try Japan, Malo Tuitama-39-24; conv. Seungsin Lee-41-24.
As in the first match against Canada, we hope they will tire USA with super-fast rugby, beat them out, and advance to the semi-finals. The only change to the lineup from previous matches is that fullback Yazaki, who played in every match, will be sent back to his universities according to the rule, and Yamazawa will start in his place. And Fakatava Amato (naturalized in Japan), who played well in the 2023 France tournament but had already been recovering from an injury, will return to the reserves.
Japan's kickoff is different from previous matches, with a shallow kick beyond the 10m line, but the US knocks it on. Super-fast rugby starts from a scrum with Japan ball . As in the match against Canada, Japan will launch a super-fast attack that combines vertical attacks by the forwards and lateral attacks to the backs. In the second minute, after consecutive attacks, a pass is passed to No. 11 Tuitama on the left side, who kicks it into the enemy's territory, which is picked up by No. 12 McCarran, who passes it back to Tuitama, leading to a try. However, the TMO ruled that Tuitama had stepped on the touchline, so it was ruled no try. After that, the US also fought back with good pressing tackles, but they were unable to get a try chance. In the 5th minute, Japan earned a penalty kick near the 10m line of the opponent's territory, and No. 10 Li easily scored a penalty goal (3-0). Japan was unable to get a try chance due to the US's fast tackles, and in the 14th minute, Warner caught a lineout 10m to the left of the opponent's territory and moved to the right. As a countermeasure against the fast DF, Li made a short punt behind the DF line. No. 13 Riley caught the ball brilliantly and ran, attracting his marker, and passed the ball to No. 12 McCallan, who followed on the inside. McCallan easily scored a try into the empty goal (Lee's successful goal made it 10-0). In the 18th minute, Japan fouled on a counterattack by the US, and No. 10 Carty of the US easily scored a penalty goal near the 22m line in the center (10-3). In the 23rd minute, Japan, with their super-fast rugby, approached the US goal line, with Riley and Costley charging in succession, and Waqua picked up the ball from the ruck and drove it into the in-goal (with Lee's successful goal making it 17-3). It seemed that the game would proceed at Japan's pace, but in the 30th minute, the US attacked the Japanese side, driving a maul from a lineout 5m to the right of the goal, involving the defenders on the right side, and No. 8 Scholz, using his 122kg weight, carried the ball into the right corner. Carty brilliantly scored the goal from the right corner (17-10). The US national team also has a world-class kicker. In the 38th minute, Japan, who had become accustomed to the US defense, approached the goal line again. In the 39th minute, Japan was awarded a penalty kick in front of the goal, and No. 9 Fujiwara made a quick tap to the right and moved it. Riley approached the in-goal line and rucked. The ball was then passed further to the right, and No. 16 Harada (37th minute, substituting No. 2 Sakate) scored a try into the right corner (24-10 thanks to Lee's successful goal). After that, Japan launched a lightning-fast attack, but the first half ended without either team scoring.
The second half started with a kick-off from the US. Five minutes later, No. 14 Naikabula caught a high punt from the US in the right midfield and secured the ball at a ruck. The passes from there were disorganized and chaotic, but the US DF line hesitated and stopped. At this point, No. 12 McCarran passed the ball to Riley, who was waiting on the left side. Riley ran into the space with his proud speed, softly dodging the US DF from right to left, and ran 60 meters in one go to dive into the in-goal (Lee's goal was successful, making it 31-10). Riley's amazing speed, as if watching a try against Italy, made the TV commentator exclaim, "From now Riley will be marked by the world." However, from here, the USA held on, and in the 10th minute, USA got a penalty kick earned from a Japanese foul for not role away and kicked the ball out to 5 meters touch line to the left of the Japanese goal. In the 11th minute, just like in the first half, the US pushed the lineout maul, but this time Japan responded and did not allow a try. However, with Japan's defense line concentrated in the center, the U.S. spread out to the left and made a quick pass to the spare No. 11 Augsberger. He passed the backing upper Fujiwara vertically and dove into the in-goal (Carty scored a goal from the left corner to make it 31-17). Encouraged by this, the U.S. again approached the Japanese goal in the 18th minute, launching a wave of attacks with the forwards and backs working together, and No. 11 Augsberger, who was in a ruck, quickly got up and positioned himself on the left side, while receiving a pass and doving into the left corner (Carty scored a goal to make it 31-24). With the score now 7 points behind, Japan seemed to wake up and tried to make another super-fast move, and in the 22nd minute, Lee scored a penalty goal to make the score 10 points behind (34-24). Then, in the 26th minute, No. 22 Tachikawa (who replaced Yamazawa at 12 minutes into the second half as a fly-half) received a pass from a lineout on the left, brilliantly exploited the gap in the defense, advanced forward, and made an offload pass at back of DF line to Riley. Riley also came forward to attract the mark, and passed to No. 11 Tuitama who followed him on the right side. Tuitama, now free, easily jumped into the in-goal (Lee's goal was successful, making it 41-24). The score remained unchanged until full time. Even though the kickoff was at 19:05, the temperature at Kumagaya Rugby Stadium was 31.6 degrees. Both teams were sweating in the heat and the ball was slippery, but both teams' fighting spirit did not fade, and it was a wonderful game. Japan continued to play super-fast rugby despite the difficulties and won, so I hope they will win the next semi-final against Samoa and challenge to the final against Fiji.