18 July 2026: G: National Stadium (Japan) ; R: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ RFU)
●Japan 15-42 France○
Data:
18/7/2026, Nations Championship 2026
Japan 15 – 42 France
National Stadium (Japan)
Half-time 15 – 28
Ben O’Keeffe (NZ RFU)
Crowd: 52,632
JAPAN: 15 Takuro Matsunaga, 14 Kazuma Ueda, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Samisoni Tua, 11 Kippei Ishida (22 Taira Main 53), 10 Ryunosuke Ito (23 Shunsuke Uenobo 62), 9 Naoto Saito, 8 Jack Cornelsen (21 Tiennan Costley 62), 7 Ben Gunter, 6 Esei Haangana (20 Michael Leitch 49), 5 Warner Dearns (capt), 4 Harry Hockings (19 Michael Stolberg 53), 3 Keijiro Tamefusa (18 Izi Sword 54), 2 Hayate Era (16 Kenji Sato 62), 1 Sojiro Otsuka (17 Takato Okabe 57).
Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Eddie Jones.
Tries: Kippei Ishida, Sojiro Otsuka.; Conversions: Takuro Matsunaga; Penalty Goals: Takuro Matsunaga; Drop Goals: None.
Red Cards: None, Yellow Cards: Harry Hockings (19 Unfair play).
France: 15 Matthieu JALIBERT, 14 Theo ATTISSOGBE, 13 Fabien BRAU-BOIRIE, 12 Yoram MOEFANA (23 Kalvin GOURGUES 56), 11 Aaron GRANDIDIER-NKANANG (22 61), 10 Romain NTAMACK, 9 Maxime LUCU (22 Paul GRAOU 68), 8 Alexandre ROUMAT (Capt) (20 62), 7 Marko GAZZOTTI, 6 Lenni NOUCHI (21 Killian TIXERONT 62) , 5 Emmanuel MEAFOU (20 Thomas STANIFORTH 56), 4 Florian VERHAEGHE (19 Hugo AURADOU 40), 3 Regis MONTAGNE (18 Sipili FALATEA 56), 2 Maxime LAMOTHE (16 Peato MAUVAKA 56), 1 Jefferson POIROT (17 Reda WARDI 56).
Reserves:
HIA:
Coach: Fabien Galthie
Tries: Maxime LAMOTHE (2), Matthieu JALIBERT (2), Alexandre ROUMAT, Maxime LUCU.; Conversions: Maxime LUCU (5), Romain NTAMACK; Penalty: None; Drop Goals: None.
Red Cards: None, Yellow Cards: Matthieu JALIBERT (58 Dangerous play), Marko GAZZOTTI (78 Unfair play).
Scoring sequence (Japan’s score shown first): 2min-try France, Maxime LAMOTHE-0-5; conv. Maxime LUCU0-7, 10min-pg Japan, Takuro Matsunaga-3-7, 15min-try Japan, Kippei Ishida-8-7; conv. Takuro Matsunaga (missed)-8-7, 19min-try France, Matthieu JALIBERT-8-12; conv. Maxime LUCU-8-14, 23min-try France, Alexandre ROUMAT-8-19; conv. Maxime LUCU-8-21, 30min-try France, Maxime LUCU-8-26;conv. Maxime LUCU-8-28, 36min-try Japan, Sojiro Otsuka-13-28; conv. Takuro Matsunaga-15-28, 43min-try France, Matthieu JALIBERT-15-33; conv. Romain NTAMACK-15-35, 51min-try France, Maxime LAMOTHE-15-40; conv. Maxime LUCU-15-42.
Starting with a victory over Scotland in 1989, Japan went on to defeat Argentina (1998), Wales (2013), and Italy (2014); they famously beat South Africa at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England and Ireland at the 2019 tournament on home soil. This leaves only four Tier 1 nations that Japan has never beaten: England and France in the Northern Hemisphere, and New Zealand and Australia in the Southern Hemisphere.
On this day, Japan faced one of those remaining opponents—France—hoping to turn the match into a tight contest and pursue a potential victory. However, since defeating Ireland and Scotland at the 2019 World Cup, the Japanese team has been subjected to rigorous analysis by other nations. France, too, would have approached this match with a clear strategy: to overwhelm Japan through lineout-driven mauls near the try line and by exploiting Japan's handling of high balls.
The match began with a French kickoff, and the visitors immediately applied pressure with coordinated attacks involving both forwards and backs. Japan conceded a penalty under this pressure, allowing France's fly-half, Ntamack, to execute a superb touch-finder that set up a lineout just five meters from Japan's goal line on the right side. Two minutes in, France secured the lineout, formed a solid maul, and drove forward, with hooker Lamothe diving into the try zone (conversion by scrum-half Lucu made it 0–7). In the seventh minute, Japan pushed back in the first scrum of the match, won a penalty, and advanced into French territory. They launched a lightning-fast, shifting attack near the goal line; while they didn't score a try, they earned a penalty kick directly in front of the posts, which Matsunaga easily converted (3–7). Then, in the 15th minute, Japan's fly-half Ito caught a French kick just inside his own 22-meter line on the left and launched a bold counter-attack. Ito ran to the halfway line, drew in his marker—number 14 Atisobe—and passed to number 13 Riley. Riley then drew in France’s number 15, Jalibert, and passed to an unmarked Ishida, who used his blistering speed to dive into the left corner of the try zone (Matsunaga missed the conversion; score 8–7). France immediately launched a counterattack, pressing close to Japan’s goal line and aiming for a try through forward-led attacks near the ruck. Japan held firm with a collective defensive effort, but in the 19th minute, France suddenly shifted from a forward drive to a backline play; number 10 Ntamack passed to Jalibert, who dove over to the right of the posts (Lucu converted; score 8–14). In the 23rd minute, following a lineout five meters out from Japan’s goal line on the right, France formed a maul and drove powerfully forward, with number 8 Lemmat crashing over in the right corner (Lucu converted; score 8–21). At the 30-minute mark, following a lineout ten meters out from Japan’s goal line on the left, France’s number 2, Lamothe, made a powerful straight run to within five meters; number 9 Lucu then exploited the wide-open left flank to score a try (Lucu converted; score 8–28). Desperate to put points on the board before halftime, Japan pressed deep into French territory in the 36th minute. From a penalty, number 2 Era—positioned alongside the other two front-rowers—took a quick tap and charged powerfully toward the try zone. Although he fell just short, number 1 Otsuka—making his first start of the match—picked up the ball in support and dove into the try zone (Matsunaga converted; score 15–28). The first half ended shortly thereafter with no further scoring from either side.
The second half resumed with a kickoff by Japan, but France quickly advanced into Japanese territory, mounting a series of attacks. Despite a wayward pass in the third minute, a trick play involving Lucu and Jalibert allowed the latter to break through and score a try directly beneath the posts (Ntamack converted to make it 15–35)—a painful blow for Japan, who had hoped to seize the initiative. In the ninth minute, Japan brought on No. 20 Leitch in an attempt to steady the ship. Two minutes later, mirroring the first half exactly, France formed a maul from a lineout five meters out on the right side, and No. 2 Lamothe dove into the try zone (Lucu converted to make it 15–42). Japan tried to counter France's throw-ins by challenging for the ball in the air, but their efforts proved completely ineffective. In the 16th minute, as France launched another series of attacks near the Japanese goal line, Leitch covered ground rapidly to make tackles; he ultimately secured a turnover at the breakdown (a "jackal") and won a penalty, rallying his teammates in the process. In the 19th minute, Japan's No. 4 Stolberg received a yellow card for foul play, leaving the team a man down; however, no one let their heads drop—instead, they repeatedly executed courageous tackles and prevented France from adding to their score. In the 22nd minute, No. 23 Uenobo came on as a substitute alongside No. 16 Sato and No. 21 Costley, earning his first cap. Having honed his skills at Tenri University and developed his tactical awareness at Kobe KS, Uenobo performed admirably, showing no signs of nerves. In the 31st minute, France won a lineout five meters out on the left and once again formed a maul to drive forward. This time, however, Japan opted not to contest the jump; instead, their entire forward pack pushed back against the drive. They successfully held off the maul, resulting in a "pile-up" and a scrum awarded to Japan. Neither team scored again, and the match ended following a French knock-on.
On this day, whenever France pinned Japan near their goal line, they were able to score tries with ease using lineout mauls. In the middle stages of the match, they overwhelmed Japan with high balls and maintained the attacking initiative; while advancing through flank attacks by their forwards, they would instantly shift the ball to the backs for an easy try whenever the Japanese defenders crowded around the ruck.
Can Japan devise countermeasures against this in the year or so leading up to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia? Knowing the French team, if Japan does implement specific countermeasures, France will likely respond with a strategy that outwits them once again. I hope the Japanese coaching staff will put their heads together, anticipate several moves ahead to formulate a strategy, and—much like the national team that made such great strides in the 2015 and 2019 World Cups—surprise both the world and the Japanese public.