Japan makes easy work of USA in Pacific Nations Cup

Japan will return to the Pacific Nations Cup final after a one-sided 63-14 victory over the USA in Osaka on Saturday. The Brave Blossoms dominated from start to finish and little trouble with their opponents, besting the Eagles in virtually every capacity en route to scoring nine tries – all converted by Sam Greene, who finished the match with 23 points to his name.

Yuya Hirose shrugged off two would-be tacklers and drove through two more to score with not quite two minutes up on the clock. The Eagles then got caught trying to counter from their own doorstep, and a few phases later Michael Stolberg took an offload from Inoke Burua in for the try. More misery game as Greene broke clean up the middle. He was clipped by the cover, but quick ball found Dylan Riley in acres of space and it was a stroll-in for seven for the big center.

Mamoru Harada claimed a fourth try from a rolling maul before his counterpart got the USA on the board. Shilo Klein’s inside angle put him in under the posts, and a the brief purple patch saw Tavite Lopeti bulldozing through a handful of Japanese defenders to score. That would be about all Eagles fans could celebrate, as Sojiro Otsuka reached over on the side of a ruck to make it 35-14 heading into the sheds.

Just over a minute into the second half Ryunosuke Ito sliced up the middle with a show-and-go, finding Riley open on his right for the double. The Eagles rang the changes with five substitutions but they would soon be down a man after Jason Damm saw yellow for a high shot in a falling ball carrier. Replacement prop Sena Kimura danced his way over the gainline and his swashbuckling effort resulted in a run-in try for Jack Cornelsen.

A surprise tactical move saw back row Tiennan Costley enter the game on the right wing. Esei Ha’angana blasted over from short range on the hour mark, and then Costley showed his pace with a searing run on a counter-attack that sent Greene sliding in under the posts. USA prop Alex Maughan limped off, adding injury to insult, and the Brave Blossoms defense thwarted a last-ditch Eagle effort after Cornelsen was binned for a similar infraction to Damm.

Both teams make their way to Tokyo for the final round of the competition next weekend. Japan enter as favorites to wrestle the title back from Fiji, while the USA might now be considered underdogs against a more lively Canada in the third-place contest.

 

SCORING

JAPAN 63
Tries (9) – Y. Hirose (2′), M. Stolberg (4′), D. Riley 2 (8′, 42′), M. Harada (16′), S. Otsuka (40′), J. Cornelsen (54′), E. Ha’angana (60′), S. Greene (64′)
Cons (9) – S. Greene 9/9 (3′, 5′, 9′, 17′, 40’+1′, 43′, 55′, 61′, 65′)
YC (1) – J. Cornelsen (75′)

USA 14
Tries (2) – S. Klein (24′), T. Lopeti (34′)
Cons (2) – C. Hilsenbeck 2/2 (25′, 35′)
YC (1) – J. Damm (51′)

 

TEAMS

JAPAN
1 Sojiro Otsuka (17 Sena Kimura 46′), 2 Mamoru Harada (16 Kenji Sato 65′), 3 Shuhei Takeuchi (18 Takumi Inaba 46′), 4 Michael Stolberg (21 Faulua Makisi 55′), 5 Harry Hockings, 6 Ben Gunter, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 8 Jack Cornelsen (19 Esei Ha’angana 56′), 9 Naoto Saito (22 Shinobu Fujiwara 56′), 10 Ryunosuke Ito, 11 Kazuma Ueda (20 Tiennan Costley 57′), 12 Yuya Hirose (23 Samisoni Tua 56′), 13 Dylan Riley, 14 Inoke Burua, 15 Sam Greene

USA
1 Payton Telea-Ilalio (17 Faka’osi Pifeleti 44′), 2 Shilo Klein (16 Joe Taufete’e 44′), 3 Tonga Kofe (18 Alex Maughan 44′-68′), 4 Jason Damm, 5 Nathan Den Hoedt (19 Sam Golla 46′), 6 Marno Redelinghuys (20 Ben Bonasso 61′), 7 Paddy Ryan, 8 Makeen Alikhan, 9 Ruben de Haas (21 Michael Baska 68′), 10 Chris Hilsenbeck (22 Luke Carty 44′), 11 Noah Brown, 12 Dom Besag, 13 Tavite Lopeti, 14 Mark O’Keeffe (23 Julian Roberts 61′), 15 Mitch Wilson

MATCH INFO

Date: Saturday, September 12
Venue: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka
Kickoff: 19:05 local
Weather: Cloudy and Humid 81°F (27°C), wind NE 5-7mph (8-11km/h)

OFFICIALS

Referee: Jordan Way (Australia)
Assistants: Damon Murphy (Australia) & Morgan White (Hong Kong)
TMO: Graham Cooper (Australia)