Outnumbered USA Fall to Japan at Junior World Championship

An outnumbered team USA fell to Japan at the Junior World Championship on Sunday in Georgia. The Japanese won the 13th Place Semi Final 71-21 with Rio Iwakura and Sota Miura both scoring hat-tricks.

The USA conceded eleven tries and scored three of their own. The USA’s try scorer’s were second-rower Frank Finicle, outside center Dane Mitchell and inside center William Darbishire. The final USA try came just two minutes into the second-half. Declan Cadden converted all three tries for the North Americans. His final conversion made it a 28-21 scoreline in favor of Japan.

The Japanese ran in tries throughout the contest. The first was scored by Rio Iwakura on 4 minutes and the last by Sota Miura on 74 minutes. In addition to both these young men running in hat-tricks, Shinnosuke Uchida also scored a double. Takeru Niwa converted eight of Japan’s tries.

The USA were outnumbered at different times during the match. Japan had impressive discipline while the USA received many yellow cards. The first went to second-rower Tyler Trower on 23 minutes. Spencer Huntley was yellow carded midway through the second-half while Alfie Booth was red carded with three minutes remaining.

The outcome of the match means Japan advance to face Spain in the 13th Place Final on Friday, July 17. The USA will take-on Uruguay in the battle to avoid bottom spot. The winner will finish 15th and the loser 16th.

 

SCORING

USA U20 (21)
TRY – F Finicle (7′), D Mitchell (38′), W Darbishire (42′)
CON – D Cadden (7′, 39′, 43′)
YC –T Trower (23′), S Huntley (66′)
RC – A Booth (72′)

JAPAN U20 (71)
TRY – R Iwakura 3 (4′, 13′, 50′), I Fukada (25′), S Uchida 2 (33′, 46′), K Suda (53′), S Miura 3 (57′, 67′, 74′), Motoyama (62′)
CON – T Niwa 8 (4′, 14′, 26′, 34′, 51′, 54′, 62′, 68′)

 

TEAMS

USA U20
1 Colin Donnelly, 2. Aidan Stewart, 3. Tyler Trower, 4. Pierce Kelly, 5. Frank Finicle, 6. Liam Hill, 7. Harrison Cluff, 8. Papaseea Matelau, 9. Spencer Huntley, 10. Declan Cadden, 11. Sialeafuhia Ofa, 12. Leo Keesler-Venables, 13. Dane Mitchell, 14. Finnian Love, 15. Gavin Holder

Replacements: 16. Salesi Kafovalu, 17. Sawyer Troupe, 18. Alfie Booth, 19. Tanielu Talaepa, 20. Yiannis Efthymiopoulos, 21. Jack Firebrace, 22. Joseph Sarkees, 23. William Darbishire

JAPAN U20
1. Song Ha Ri, 2. Koshi Tsumura, 3. Haruto Sasaki, 4. Masato Yanase, 5. Masato Hyakutake, 6. Riku Fujikubo, 7. Yuta Otabe, 8. Akihiro Tsubone, 9. Soshi Kataoka, 10. Takeru Niwa, 11. Isa Fukada, 12. Tsunehidemichi Fukuda, 13. Rio Iwakura, 14. Shinnosuke Uchida, 15. Ryuto Koga

Replacements: 16. Sota Miura, 17. Keigo Aruga, 18. Keitatsu Motoyama, 19. Yuga Ichikawa, 20. Chikara Fukuda, 21. Kohaku Suda, 22. Yura Morioka, 23. Gentaro Sakata

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS