16 November 2024: G: Chambery Savoie Stadium (France) ; R: Christophe Ridley (RFU)
○Japan 36-20 Uruguay●
Data:
16/11/2024, Challenge Tour 2024
Japan 36 – 20 Uruguay
Chambery Savoie Stadium (France)
Half-time 18 – 13
Refree: Christophe Ridley (RFU)
Crowd: 6,000
JAPAN: 15 Malo Tuitama (22 Nicholas Mccuran 55), 14 Jone Naikabula, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Siosaia Fifita (Yusuke Kajimura 79), 11 Junta Hamano, 10 Takuro Matsunaga, 9 Naoto Saito (capt) (39 Yellow card)(21 Shinobu Fujiwara 79), 8 Kazuki Himeno, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 6 Amato Fakatava (20 Isaiah Mapusua 47), 5 Warner Dearns (66 Red card), 4 Epineri Uluiviti (19 Sanaila Waqa 45), 3 Keijiro Tamefusa (18 Opeti Helu 62), 2 Mamoru Harada (16 Kenta Matsuoka 69), 1 Takato Okabe (17 Yukio Morikawa 66).
Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Eddie Jones.
Tries: Kazuki Himeno, Junta Hamano, Kanji Shimokawa, Jone Naikabula, Dylan Riley. Conversions: Naoto Saito; Penalty Goals: Takuro Matsunaga, Naoto Saito (2); Drop Goals: Nothing
Red Cards: Warner Dearns, Yellow Cards: Naoto Saito
Uruguay: 15 Juan GONZALEZ (23 Gaston MIERES 70), 14 Bautista BASSO, 13 Felipe ARCOS PEREZ, 12 Juan Manuel ALONSO (21 Joaquin SUAREZ 18), 11 Ignacio FACCIOLO, 10 Icaro AMARILLO, 9 Santiago ALVAREZ, 8 Manuel DIANA (20 Carlos DEUS 54), 7 Lucas BIANCHI, 6 Santiago CIVETTA, 5 Manuel LEINDEKAR (capt), 4 Ignacio DOTTI (19 Felipe ALIAGA 41), 3 Diego ARBELO (18 Ignacio PECULO 41), 2 Guillermo PUJADAS (16 Joaquin MYSZKA 67), 1 Mateo SANGUINETTI (17 Mateo PERILLO 54).
Reserves: 22 Ignacio ALVAREZ
HIA:
Coach: Rodolfo Ambrosio
Tries: Manuel DIANA, Lucas BIANCHI ; Conversions: Santiago ALVAREZ (2) ;Penalty: Santiago ALVAREZ (2); Drop Goals: Nothing.
Yellow Cards:
Scoring sequence (Japan’s score shown first): 7min-try Urugay, Manuel DIANA-0-5; conv. Santiago ALVAREZ-0-7, 10min-try Japan, Kazuki Himeno-5-7; conv. Takuro Matsunaga (missed)-5-7, 20min-pg Uruguay, Santiago ALVAREZ-5-10, 26min-pg Japan, Takuro Matsunaga-8-10, 32min-try Japan, Junta Hamano-13-10; conv. Takuro Matsunaga (missed)-13-10, 36min-try Japan, Kanji Shimokawa-18-10; conv. Takuro Matsunaga (missed)-18-10, 40min-pg Uruguay, Santiago ALVAREZ-18-13, 44min-try Uruguay, Lucas BIANCHI-18-18; conv. Santiago ALVAREZ-18-20, 52min-try Japan, Jone Naikabula-23-20; conv. Takuro Matsunaga (missed)-23-20, 61min-pg Japan, Naoto Saito-26-20, 69min-pg Japan, Naoto Saito-29-20, 76min-pg Japan, Naoto Saito (missed)-29-20, 38min-try Japan, Dylan Riley-34-20; conv. Naoto Saito-36-20.
After being completely defeated by Fiji in the PNC final, the Japanese national team continues to be in a tough situation, unable to play close games against New Zealand and France, but I want them to win against the lower-ranked Uruguay, regardless of the content, and get a fresh start to play in the match against England. However, the awareness that they must win has made the Japanese national team members tense. Uruguay also defeated Fiji in the RWC2019 Japan tournament, and although they were supposed to be a team that fought with physical strength and a strong mentality, their overall strength, such as offload passes on the ruck side and development attacks, has significantly improved.
The match started with Uruguay's kickoff, and both teams' aggressive attacks collided. It was a situation where it was unclear when a try would be scored, but in the 7th minute, Uruguay attacked within the Japanese 22m line, won consecutive rucks, and SH Alvarez attacked the Japanese defense line, and passed an offload pass to No. 8 Diana behind the line, taking the lead (0-7 with Alvarez's goal). Japan also launched a lightning-fast attack, and in the 10th minute, from a lineout 22m to the left of Uruguay's goal, No. 12 Fifita charged forward and approached the goal line after winning consecutive rucks. Himeno, who ran to the side of the ruck, rolled past the opponent's tackle and scored a try (Matsunaga's missed goal made it 5-7). After that, Uruguay kicked high punt on a counter attack from midfield, but No. 10 Matsunaga obstructed the catcher, and in the 20th minute Alvarez scored a penalty goal 25m from the center (5-10). In the 23rd minute, Uruguay penalized a lineout on the left in front of the goal, and Japan won consecutive rucks with lightning-fast development. Finally, No. 13 Riley made a long pass to No. 11 Hamano (right wing on this day) for what looked like a great try, but the TMO ruled the lomg pass a throw-forward and the try was cancelled. Even if you throw a pass backwards while running, the law of inertia causes the ball to go a little forward, so it looked like a perfect pass, but the video showed the pass going just past the 5m line and moving forward, so it was ruled a throw-forward. However, in the 26th minute, Matsunaga scored a penalty goal (8-10) after that FW got the penalty kick by pushing the opponent's scrum. In the 32nd minute, Uruguay made a nice kick (50-22) from just before the halfway line. However, at a lineout with Uruguay on the 22m line to the right of Japan's half, Japan picked up the loose ball and made a super-fast attack from their own half, where Tuitama broke through and crossed the halfway line to Naikabura, who moved forward to make a ruck and continue their super-fast attack. After winning consecutive rucks, Japan's Saito made a pass to Shimokawa on the right side just before the 22m line. No.7 Shimokawa passed the ball to No.11 Hamano, who was free, and he ran quickly on the right side and jumped into the in-goal (Matsunaga's goal failed, making the score 13-10). Japan again launched a super-fast attack from the midfield, entering Uruguay's half and winning consecutive rucks. A touch kick from a foul by Uruguay resulted in a lineout 5m to the left of the left goal. In the 36th minute, No. 4 Urui Vaiti jumped to focus the opponent's attention, and No. 7 Shimokawa ran into the space in front of him, receiving a pass from Saito in the front row and going around the empty in-goal (Matsunaga's missed goal made it 18-10). The difference in goal success rate with Uruguay is painful. After this, in the 39th minute, Uruguay kicked a high punt from a counter attack, and just beyond the 10m line in the center of the Japanese half, Alvarez and Saito both jumped and collided. Saito also went for the ball, but at the end, perhaps because he gave up and looked down, Saito was shown a yellow card, and Alvarez was given a penalty kick to score PG, ending the first half (18-13).
In the second half, Japan wanted to score first, but there was a stalemate in the game, and in the 4th minute of the second half, Uruguay pushed a maul from a lineout on the right in front of the halfway line 10m and developed it to the left. The ball was dropped once, but it was picked up and launched a series of attacks. After breaking through the ruck side and developing the play, the second player moved in shallow and broke through the gain line, steadily gaining area and approaching the goal. Finally, No. 7 Bianchi, supporting No. 9 Alvarez who broke through the ruck side, evaded a tackle and scored a try (Alvarez's goal put the score at 18-20).
Japan, unable to lose, aggressively launched a super-fast attack, but Uruguay's good tackles prevented them from getting a chance. Japan also fended off Uruguay's attacks with such high-minded tackles that it didn't even seem like they were missing one player. From Uruguay foul Japan kicked the ball to the touch line of Uruguay 5m to the left of the Uruguay goal for a lineout. It seemed like Japan had missed the chance with a knock-on, but Uruguay's foul at the lineout led to another touch kick, resulting in a lineout with the ball being Japanese. In the 12th minute, they pushed the maul from the lineout, and the ball was almost stolen, but Saito managed to keep it, and finally passed it to the narrow left side, where No. 14 (left wing on this day) Naikabura scored a try in the left corner (Matsunaga's goal failed, making it 23-20). Japan continued to attack aggressively after that, but they made mistakes at crucial times and couldn't get the momentum. In the 21st minute, Japan, wanting to win, earned a penalty kick 20m in the center, and Saito scored a penalty goal (26-20). However, in the 26th minute, at Uruguay ball lineout with on the Japan 22m line, Warner stepped forward to apply pressure when the ball was loose, but when Uruguay No.2 picked up the ball, Warner's head hit the face of No.2, who picked up the ball, and he was given a red card. It's a shame that he probably won't be able to play in the next match against England either. Then, in the 27th minute, at a Uruguay ball lineout on the left 22m line of the Japan side, Uruguay formed a maul and pushed the Japan forward, who was down one player. In the end, the eight players came together and rushed into the in-goal, which looked like a try, but the TMO ruled it out for obstruction. If this had been a try, who knows what the outcome of the game would have been? Japan went on the offensive from the linout by PK touch kick and entered Uruguay's side with consecutive attacks, and in the 29th minute, Saito scored another penalty goal (29-20). Japan was still not in a safe lead, and Uruguay continued to attack without giving up, but Japan's 14 players continued to hold them off with a unified tackle. In the 36th minute, Japan earned a penalty kick, and Saito again tried to score a PG, but it hit the post and bounced off. After this, Matsunaga caught the opponent's kick and launched a counter attack, but he was jacked near the halfway line and gave away a penalty. In the 38th minute, a big play was made from the lineout maul from this touch kick. Uruguay continued to push the maul 15 meters in front of the right goal of the Japanese side, but Japan's No. 19 Waqua twisted his hand to snache the ball away. In front of the goalJapan made a bold move to the right , and Matsunaga (fullback) waiting on the far outside made a vertical run to skip the Uruguayan player marking him, and made a brilliant swerve to run alone in the outside space. He passed the ball past the halfway line to the fast Riley who followed, and Riley jumped into the empty goal (Saito's goal made it 36-20). After that, full time came.
This was a must-win game, and there were many tough moments, but the team persevered and never lost spirit. With many injuries and red cards, the team is in a difficult situation, but I hope they will reflect on today's game (their offloading defence at the ruck side, their positioning and response to high punts, etc.) and take on the challenge of next week's match against England with renewed spirit.