9 November 2024: G: Stade de France (France) ; R: Damian Schneider (UAR)
●Japan 12-52 France○
Data:
09/11/2024, Challenge Tour 2024
Japan 12 – 52 France
Stade de France (France)
Half-time 0 – 31
Refree: Damian Schneider (UAR)
Crowd: 49,700
JAPAN: 15 Malo Tuitama, 14 Jone Naikabula, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Siosaia Fifita (Yusuke Kajimura 67), 11 Tomoki Osada, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa (capt) (23 Takuro Matsunaga 51), 9 Naoto Saito (21 Shinobu Fujiwara 51), 8 Faulua Makisi (19 Amato Fakatava 49)) , 7 Kazuki Himeno, 6 Kanji Shimokawa, 5 Warner Dearns (20 Tevita Tatafu 54), 4 Epineri Uluiviti, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi (18 Keijiro Tamefusa 57), 2 Mamoru Harada (16 Kenta Matsuoka 73), 1 Takato Okabe (17 Yukio Morikawa 52).
Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Eddie Jones.
Tries: Harumichi Tatekawa, Tevita Tatafu. Conversions: Naoto Saito; Penalty Goals: Nothing; Drop Goals: Nothing
Red Cards: , Yellow Cards:
France: 15 Leo BARRE, 14 Theo ATTISSOGBE, 13 Emilien GAILLETON (23 Gael FICKOU 57), 12 Yoram MOEFANA (22 Matthieu JALIBERT 59), 11 Louis BIELLE-BIARREY, 10 Thomas RAMOS, 9 Antoine DUPONT (capt) (21 Maxime LUCU 66), 8 Gregory ALLDRITT, 7 Alexandre ROUMAT, 6 Francois CROS (19 Mickael GUILLARD 41) , 5 Emmanuel MEAFOU (16 Julien MARCHAND 51), 4 Thibaud FLAMENT (20 Paul BOUDEHENT 33), 3 Tevita TATAFU (18 Georges-Henri COLOMBE 51), 2 Peato MAUVAKA, 1 Jean-Baptiste GROS (17 Reda WARDI 52).
Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Fabien Galthie
Tries: Louis BIELLE-BIARREY (2), Emilien GAILLETON, Alexandre ROUMAT, Peato MAUVAKA, Jean-Baptiste GROS, Paul BOUDEHENT (2), ; Conversions: Thomas RAMOS (6) ;Penalty Goals:; Drop Goals:.
Yellow Cards:
Scoring sequence (Japan’s score shown first): 4min-try France, Jone Louis BIELLE-BIARREY-0-5; conv.Thomas RAMOS (missed)-0-5, 10min-try France, Emilien GAILLETON-0-10; conv. Thomas RAMOS-0-12, 19min-try France, Alexandre ROUMAT-0-17; conv. Thomas RAMOS-0-19, 28min- try France, Louis BIELLE-BIARREY-0-24; conv. Thomas RAMOS-0-26, 34min-try France, Peato MAUVAKA-0-31; conv. ThomasRAMOS (missed)-0-31, 42min-try France Jean-Baptiste GROS-0-36; conv. Thomas RAMOS-0-38, 50min-try Japan, Harumichi Tatekawa-5-38; conv. Naoto Saito-7-38, 54min-try France, Paul BOUDEHENT-7-43; conv. Thomas RAMOS-7-45, 61min-try Japan, Tevita Tatafu-12-45; conv. Takuro Matsunaga (missed)-12-45, 65min-try France, Paul BOUDEHENT-12-50; conv. Thomas RAMOS-12-52.
The members for this day were Sakate absent due to injury, Harada starting as second and Matsuoka as reserve. SH Saito, who plays in the French league, started and Fujiwara as reserve. Tatafu, who also plays in the French league, was also on the reserves, raising expectations for him to be an impact player. Fifita started as center for the first time in a year since last year's RWC. Fullback Yazaki, a university student, returned to university, and fullback Tuitama started.
The match started with a Japanese kickoff. France's captain SH Dupont tried to punt high from the maul, but Japan's young lock Warner made a great charge, caught the ball and advanced. It was hoped that the opposing fullback would hand it off, but after being tackled, they formed a great ruck. Unfortunately, there was a knock-on and Japan did not take the lead. From here, France went on the offensive, but on this day, France mixed in vertical charges from their forwards, but in the end they passed it to a fast player on the outside to make a move. Four minutes into the first half, Bielle-Biarrey, the left wing on the far outside, received a long pass and ran through the space, seeing Japan's fullback Tuitama climbing up, he kicked a grubber kick behind him. Tuitama, who was selected as the fullback that day, made a save two meters in front of the right goal of Japan, but the ball bounced off and Bielle-Biarrey, who dove into the in-goal, scored the opening try (0-5 after Ramos' failed goal). France continued their attacking efforts without making a mistake, repeating the successive attacks that Japan was aiming for, and in the 10th minute, after eight phases, France approached the right of Japan's goal, and from a ruck, No10 Ramos kicked a pass to the left side. No13 Gailleton, who was waiting, easily caught the ball and scored a try (Ramos' successful goal made it 0-12).
France, who made no mistakes, was not letting Japan take the lead. In the 19th minute, France turned over a Japanese ruck in the midfield and stole the ball. As with the first try, they passed it to No11 Bielle-Biarrey, who again made a grubber kick to the front of the Japanese goal. This time, No. 7 Roumat picked up the ball that had been spilled after Tuitama's save and scored a try (Ramos's goal was successful, making it 0-19). Japan also tried to make a comeback by playing some ultra-fast rugby, but their support at the ruck was weak, allowing France to easily take the ball back. In the 28th minute, France's No. 9 Dupont launched a quick attack from a penalty kick earned by a Japanese foul, spreading from a ruck on the right of the midfield to the left and kicking the ball to left side. No. 11 Bielle-Biarrey caught the ball on the first bounce, drawing Tuitama to it, and returned the pass to No. 12 Moefana. Moefana passed the ball to No. 11 Bielle-Biarrey while being tackled by Fifita, who was chasing up. Bielle-Biarrey shook off Tachikawa's backup and scored a try in the left corner (Ramos goal successful, 0-26). France continued to attack and in the 34th minute, at a lineout beyond the 22m to the right of Japan's half, No. 2 Mauvaca threw the ball to Dupont in the front row, who immediately returned the pass. Mauvaca ran as no mark and scored a try in the right corner (Ramos goal failed, 0-31). Japan also tried some lightning-fast rugby, but failed to score by the first half ended.
In the second half, just two minutes into the game, from a lineout 5m to the left of Japan's half, France forwards repeatedly charged forward, and finally No1 Gro broke through and scored a try (Ramos goal successful, 0-38). Japan was struggling to launch an attack, so they launched a bold attack to the right from a scrum to the left of their own 22m line. The forwards and backs worked together to attack, developing from a ruck near their own right 10m line to the left, and in the 10th minute, No13 Riley charged vertically with a passing dummy, got into the opponent's tackle, and made a brilliant offload pass to No14 Naikabula who was supporting him. Naikabula broke through with speed and was tackled just beyond the French 10m line, but as he fell he passed to No9 Saito. Saito also passed the ball to the supporting Fifita while being tackled, and Fifita attracted his mark and passed the ball to Tachikawa on the outside. Tachikawa, who was left as no mark, was tackled by Dupont chasing up but dove into the left corner (Saito's goal made it 7-38). However, this play caused captain SO Tachikawa to hurt his leg. In the 14th minute, France went on the attack again, closing in on the Japanese goal, and their forwards repeatedly charged vertically, and from a ruck in front of the right goal of the Japanese half, No. 20 Boudehent jumped over the ruck to score a try (Ramos' goal was successful, making it 7-45). Japan did not give up, and from a penalty kick they gained a lineout 5m to the left of the French half's goal, and pushed the lineout maul, and finally substitute Tatafu took the ball into the in-goal, which looked like a try, but after a TMO decision, it was ruled that a French player's leg was under the ball, and it was ruled no try, and an in-goal dropout. Japan catched the kicked ball, and launched a series of bold attacks. But the passes were disrupted, and France seized the ball. France boldly launched an attack to the right, which seemed like a great opportunity, but Tatafu, who had missed the try earlier, went out and intercepted the French pass. He ran 50m and was tackled by France's No. 11 Bielle-Biarrey in front of the left goal, but he skillfully rolled the body to take the ball into the in-goal and scored a try (Matsunaga's missed goal made it 12-45). After that, France approached the right of the Japanese goal with a kick pass and a combined attack by the FW and BK, and in the 25th minute, Boudehent brought the ball into the in-goal and scored a try (Ramos's successful goal made it 12-52). France continued to attack after that, but Japan also continued to tackle with a strong sense of determination. As a result, France began to get tired, and Japan also had several chances to attack. However, even if they were able to make effective attacks in several phases, they made mistakes at the end or were broken the chance by the opponent's jackal. I feel that today's French national team taught us the basics of winning, ``No mistakes, no fouls!''. The ball possession rate was almost the same, and Japan's gain meter was overwhelming, so it is clear how France was able to score tries without making any mistakes. I hope they will regain their form in the next match against Uruguay, and then in the final match against England they will play a close and exciting game with a thorough "no mistakes, no fouls!" policy.