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Los Teros fell to a 30-8 defeat to Japan this morning in the opening test of a two match series in Japan. The series is being used by both teams as a warm-up ahead of the Rugby World Cup 2015 which starts on Friday September 18.
The Uruguayan team arrived in Japan on Tuesday following a long trip from South America which included a connection in Madrid, Spain. The players then trained on Wednesday and Thursday before having the captain’s run on Friday and play against Japan today in Fukuoka.
Uruguay gave Japan a solid opening half. Solid defense meant that Japan was unable to play with it’s usual width and obtain results. Opportunities did, nonetheless, present themselves with Japan crossing for tries in the 11th and 31st minutes.
Lineout problems complicated Uruguay’s play which gifted Japan with territory and possession and resulted in Uruguay tackling at a higher rate. Los Teros were able to compete well in the tackle area, winning turnovers from rucks and seized a chance with Felipe Berchesi landing three points.
Trailing 17-3, Uruguay then gave Japan a scare by winning a penalty from a scrum and turning down a penalty to instead request a second scrum. From there Jerónimo Etcheverry crossed for a try which saw the half time scoreline set at 17-8.
Ayumu Goromaru opened the second half well by kicking two penalties which saw Japan out to a 23-8 lead. Uruguay was able to keep Japan out of the 22 and launch some raids into the Japanese half but was not rewarded with additional points.
In one of the few Japanese attacks inside the Uruguayan 22 number 8 Hendrik Tui went over for a try from a maul to give Japan a 30-8 lead. The 30 degree heat combined with Japan’s fitness and Uruguay’s recent long-haul voyage from South America resulted in Uruguay fading away in the closing minutes and missing a scoring opportunity.
The teams are to travel to Tokyo for the second test which will take place in seven days time, on Saturday August 29. Following the match Pablo Lemoine will confirm his player roster for the Rugby World Cup.
Uruguay is to compete in Pool A against Australia, England, Fiji and Wales while Japan will play in Pool B against Samoa, Scotland, South Africa and the USA. Before the World Cup Uruguay will play one final warm-up match on September 6 in the city of Getxo, Spain against a Basque XV.
Scorers
For Japan
Try: Tui (2), Horie
Conversion: Goromaru (3)
Penalty: Goromaru (3)
For Uruguay
Try: Etcheverry
Penalty: Berchesi
Japan
1 Masataka Mikami, 2 Shota Horie, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 5 Shoji Ito, 6 Michael Leitch (Captain), 7 Hayden Hopgood, 8 Hendrik Tui, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 10 Kosei Ono, 11 Keisuke Uchida, 12 Yu Tamura, 13 Male Sau, 14 Karne Hesketh, 15 Ayumu Goromaru
16 Takayuki Watanabe, 17 Hiroki Yuhara, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Luke Thompson, 20 Tsuyoshi Murata, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Toshiaki Hirose, 23 Yoshikazu Fujita
Head Coach: Eddie Jones
Uruguay
1 Alejo Corral, 2 Nicolás Klappenbach, 3 Mario Sagario, 4 Santiago Vilaseca (Captain), 5 Jorge Zerbino, 6 Juan Gaminara, 7 Diego Magno, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Agustín Ormaechea, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 11 Jerónimo Etcheverry, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Joaquín Prada, 14 Santiago Gibernau, 15 Gastón Mieres
Head Coach: Pablo Lemoine
16 German Kessler, 17 Oscár Duran, 18 Carlos Arboleya, 19 Franco Lamanna, 20 Matias Beer, 21 Juan De Freitas, 22 Alejo Duran, 23 Leandro Leivas
Venue: Level 5 Stadium, Fukuoka
Referee: Jerome Garcés (France)
Assistants: George Clancy (Ireland), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
TMO: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
