24 November 2024: G: Twickenham Stadium (England) ; R: Craig Evans (WRU)
●Japan 14-59 England○
Data:
24/11/2024, Challenge Tour 2024
Japan 14 – 59 England
Twickenham Stadium (England)
Half-time 7 – 35
Refree: Craig Evans (WRU)
Crowd: 81,634
JAPAN: 15 Takuro Matsunaga, 14 Tomoki Osada (23 Yusuke Kajimura 64), 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Siosaia Fifita, 11 Jone Naikabula, 10 Nicholas Mccuran, 9 Naoto Saito (capt)(22 Shinobu Fujiwara 61), 8 Faulua Makisi (21 Gunter Ben 48), 7 Kazuki Himeno, 6 Kanji Shimokawa (20 Tevita Tataf 61), 5 Epineri Uluiviti, 4 Sanaila Waqa (19 Daichi Akiyama 53), 3 Shyuhei Takeuchi (18 Keijiro Tamefusa 41), 2 Sunhyuku Lee (16 Kenta Matsuoka 41), 1 Takato Okabe (17 Yukio Morikawa 61).
Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Eddie Jones.
Tries: Naoto Saito, Kazuki Himeno.Conversions: Naoto Saito, Takuro Matsunaga; Penalty Goals: None; Drop Goals: None.
Red Cards:, Yellow Cards:.
England: 15 George Furbank (22 Fin Smith 55), 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade (23 Tom Roebuck 61), 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack Van Poortvliet (21 Harry Randall 48), 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill (20 Chandler Cunningham-South 16), 6 Tom Curry, 5 George Martin (19 Nick Isiekwe 67), 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart (18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour 55), 2 Jamie George (capt) (16 Luke Cowan-Dickie 67), 1 Ellis GENGE (17 Fin Baxter 53). Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Steave Borthwick
Tries: Ben Earl, Sam Underhill, Jamie George (2), Ollie Sleightholme, George Furbank, Luke Cowan-Dickie (2) , Tom Roebuck; Conversions: Marcus Smith (7); Penalty Goals: None; Drop Goals: None.
Yellow Cards:.
Scoring sequence (Japan’s score shown first): 5min-pg Japan, Naoto Saito (missed)-0-0, 9min-try England, Ben Earl-0-5; conv. Marcus Smith-0-7, 14min-try England, Sam Underhill-0-12; conv. Marcus Smith-0-14,23min-try England, Jamie George-0-19; conv. Marcus Smith-0-21, 31min-try England, Jamie George-0-26; conv. Marcus Smith-0-28, 34min-try Japan, Naoto Saito-5-28; conv. Naoto Saito-7-28, 37min-try England, Ollie Sleightholme-7-33; conv. Marcus Smith-7-35, 54min-try England, George Furbank-7-40; conv. Marcus Smith (missed)-7-40, 60min-try England, Luke Cowan-Dickie-7-45; conv. Marcus Smith (missed)-7-45, 62min-try Japan, Kazuki Himeno-12-45; conv. Takuro Matsunaka-14-45, 65min-try England, Luke Cowan-Dickie-14-50; conv. Marcus Smith-14-52, 29min-try England, Tom Roebuck-14-57; conv. Marcus Smith-14-59.
Japan has lost all 12 matches against England. However, there have been times in the past when the score was close, and at last year's RWC2023 in France, they were in a fierce battle with a score of 12-13 until the 16th minute of the second half, when the ball hit the head of the opposing number 1 player Mahler and led to a try, resulting in an unfortunate defeat. However, the new Eddie Japan has recently suffered a series of injuries and is missing a goal kick specialist, and Lee Seung-hyo, who was making his first cap, was in the number 2 position for the day.
The match started with England kicking off, and they wanted to swing the England national team with their super-fast rugby, but they made some mistakes, such as a no-touch kick from a penalty kick by number 15 Matsunaga, and a missed penalty kick from 45 meters in the center in the 5th minute, which was a chance to take the lead. The scrum, which seems to be under pressure, is also a concern. In the 9th minute, England pushed the maul to the right from a lineout on their own ball just before the 22m line to the left of the Japanese half. First receiver No. 12 Slade passed the ball to No. 10 Marcus Smith, who pretended to make a big move to the right and floated the ball to No. 13 Lawrence, who ran vertically, and Lawrence broke through vertically. After his crossing the 22m line, No. 8 Ben Earl, who followed inside, catched the ball, who shook off the Japanese backup and scored a try just under the goal post (Smith's goal was successful 0-7). In the 14th minute, England's lineout maul 5m to the right of the Japanese goal was crushed, but from there, England forwards continued to attack from the side, and finally No. 7 Underhill rushed into the in-goal (Smith's goal was 0-14). Then, in the 23rd minute, England's lineout maul 5m to the left of the Japanese goal was joined by backs No. 11, No. 12, and No. 13, who pushed the maul, and No. 2 George scored a try (Smith's goal was 0-21). In the 31st minute, George again pushed in England's lineout maul 5m to the right of the Japanese goal and scored a try (Smith's goal was 0-28). Japan's fouls in the midfield allowed England to kick touch all the way to the Japanese goal, and then pushed their lineout maul back, conceding tries three times in a row. It is important to clearly recognise that fouls in the midfield can lead to conceded tries.In the 34th minute, Japan finally had a chance to attack, and from a ruck in front of their own 10m line, No. 6 Shimokawa made a vertical run to make the ruck, which resulted in a pass to Saito, McCarran, and Fifita. Fifita passed the ball to FB Matsunaga, who was supporting from the back, instead of No. 5 Urui Vaiti on the outside, and Matsunaga attracted the mark and passed the ball to Riley, resulting in a 2-on-1 situation. Riley made a vertical breakthrough with a dummy pass, ran 35m, and passed the ball to Saito, who was supporting on the inside, just beyond the 10m line of the opponent's territory. Saito shook off Smith's backup and went around the in-goal (Saito's goal made it 7-28). However, immediately after that, in the 37th minute, England, who had advanced to just before the 22m line on the right of Japan's territory, now went on the back's attacking. Although the ball was once dropped, they recovered with strong support, and No. 3 Stewart's long pass was used to connect to No. 11 Slight Home. Slightholme skillfully kicked a grubber kick into the in-goal and scored a try by himself (Smith's goal made it 7-35). The first half ended with the game looking one-sided.
After recovering tactically and mentally at halftime, Japan started the second half with ultra-fast rugby at full throttle. They launched a super-fast attack from a lineout obtained by a direct touch from the opponent, and in the 42nd minute, they continued their attack with a tap kick from No. 9 Saito after a penalty kick earned from an opponent's foul. On this day, No. 10 McCallan kicked a grubber kick behind the opponent's DF near the 22m line of the opponent's territory, leading to a race between No. 11 Naikabula and No. 10 Smith, but unfortunately no try was scored. Japan continued their ultra-fast rugby thereafter, with No. 12 Fifita charging forward and the back row breaking through the side. In the 45th minute, No. 4 Waqua broke through the ruck side and made a run, but dropped the ball. In the 47th minute, Japan won consecutive rucks and developed to the right from a ruck created by Fifita's vertical charge. The ball was passed from McCallan to Matsunaga to Riley, who dodged No. 11 Slight Home outside, who was closing in, and attracted No. 15 Furbank, who was coming up, and passed the ball to No. 14 Osada. Osada, who was left unmarked, ran 25 meters and hit up with No. 10 Smith, who was the backup, but at this time, No. 11 Naikabra was supporting him from the inside, and if Naikabra's call had reached him, Osada, who was originally CTB, would have been able to pass the ball to Naikabra, but he missed a golden try chance. In the 50th minute, Japan won a penalty kick by pushing off the scrum with England, who had been under pressure that day. From the lineout near the 22m line to the left of the opponent's territory, which was obtained by the penalty kick with a touch, Japan pushed the maul and launched a continuous attack again. However, the last punt that McCallan raised behind the opponent's DF was marked by the opponent, and the touch kick resulted in a lineout 10m to the right of the Japanese territory. From here, they continued their super-fast attack, but they were unable to get a try chance. If Japan had been able to score a try with this super-fast attack in over 10-minute period, the flow of the game would have been dramatically different. I would have preferred if they had used this super-fast attack at full throttle from the start of the first half to get the pace. However, in the 54th minute, no one reacted to the ball thrown by the thrower at Japan lineout about 30 meters to the right of Japan's own half, and England, who secured the ball, moved to the right and kicked a punt to the far right. No. 14 Freeman caught the ball beautifully and made a brilliant pass from behind himself to No. 15 Furbank, who was supporting the inside, without looking, and Furbank dove into the in-goal (Smith's goal failed, making it 7-40). In the 60th minute, England pushed a lineout maul 5 meters to the left of the Japanese goal, and after a ruck, No. 16 Cowan-Decky charged in powerfully, shaking off several Japanese defenders and driving the ball into the in-goal (Smith's goal failed, making it 7-45).Immediately after, in the 62nd minute, Japan went on the offensive, with #20 Tatafu breaking through the ruck side just before the England 10m line, and #14 Osada, who supported him, broke through vertically and passed the ball on the 22m line to #22 Fujiwara for a ruck. #7 Himeno received the pass from there, and passed it to #17 Morikawa, who supported him laterally, and Himeno supported him again. Morikawa fell 7m in front of the goal, and Himeno received a pass from him and jumped into the in-goal (Matsunaga's goal made it 14-45). Japan wanted to go on the offensive even more, but in the 65th minute, England attacked in front of the Japanese goal, winning consecutive rucks with side attacks from by forwards, and finally #16 Cowan-Decky scored his second try (Smith's goal made it 14-52). In the 69th minute, England again attacked beyond the 10m line to the left of Japan's territory, won several rucks, and punted the ball into the outside space, where No. 23 Roebuck, waiting on the far outside, caught it and ran into the in-goal, dodging tackles by Naikabula and Matsunaga (Smith's goal makes it 14-59). After that, both teams continued to attack and defend, but no goals were scored and the game reached full time.
In the past two games against England, Japan had been able to form stable scrums, but on this day they were unable to stabilize scrums same to their lineouts. Furthermore, though England has powerful maul play, Japan repeatedly committed fouls in the midfield, allowing the opponents to easily get in front of their own goal. This year's test matches are over, but next year, we hope that Japan will make the strongest national team by bringing back new players with the return of injured players and veterans who have been on hiatus for a while, and challenge the world strong teams.