Takulua leads Tonga to win over Japan

A second consecutive man-of-the-match performance from Tane Takulua sparked Tonga to a 31-20 victory over Japan at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby on Monday. It was a closely fought match with several lead changes until the final quarter, when Tonga pulled away.

The two kickers were into the game early as referee Angus Gardner pinged both sides for not rolling away. Ayumu Goromaru struck first, closely followed by Kurt Morath. Tonga nearly opened their try scoring account twice, but Vunga Lilo’s final pass couldn’t find Otulea Katoa, and then Fetu’u Vainikolo just tramped on the sideline before reaching the end zone.

A big shove from Japan at the scrum earned them an easy penalty kick for Goromaru to give them a short-lived lead. Repeat infringements put Tongan captain Nili Latu in the bin, but nothing came of it and soon his counterpart Michael Leitch was sitting beside him for a similar run of infractions. With one from each side off, the game started to open up.

Tonga’s backs were at it again, and a huge break from Tane Takulua had Japan on the back foot. At last the try came through massive tighthead Halani Aulika, who overpowered two defenders to fall over the line. Morath added the extras, but Japan replied immediately as a weaving run from Karne Hesketh put them in scoring position, and replacement Hendrik Tui took it the rest of the way with no tacklers in sight.

Morath punished the increasingly undisciplined Japanese defense with two late penalty goals to finish an entertaining half with Tonga in the lead.

The second half started well for Japan, with Goromaru adding two more penalties to his tally, but then things went rapidly downhill. Indiscipline cost them repeatedly, and after securing field position, Vainikolo was put over in the corner from a Morath miss-out pass.

A bizarre decision by Japan to turn down the sticks and go for the corner instead went pear-shaped as the lineout wasn’t straight, and then more penalties put Morath in position to kick his fourth penalty. Goromaru got his fifth shortly after, but some reckless play from Hayden Hopgood at the lineout landed him in the bin, and effectively killed off any hope of a Japanese comeback.

The end came as Sione Piukala crashed through the line and offloaded to a wide open Takulua, with Morath’s conversion bringing on the whistle for full time. With that Tonga finish the tournament in third place, and Japan end in a disappointing fourth after winning the title last year.

TONGA 31
Tries – H. Aulika (30), F. Vainikolo (53), T. Takulua (79)
Cons – K. Morath 2 (31, 80)
Pens – K. Morath 4 (10, 35, 40, 61)
Yellow cards – N. Latu (24)

JAPAN 20
Tries – H. Tui (32)
Pens – A. Goromaru 5 (8, 17. 42, 49, 64)
Yellow cards – M. Leitch (28), H. Hopgood (70)

TONGA
1 T. Mailau 2 E. Taione 3 H. Aulika (S. Puafisi 55) 4 L. Lokotui 5 U. Kolo’ofai 6 J. Ram 7 N. Latu (capt.) 8 H. T-Pole 9 T. Takulua 10 K. Morath 11 F. Vainikolo 12 V. Tahitu’a 13 S. Piukala 14 O. Katoa 15 V. Lilo

Not used: K. Pongi, S. Tonga’uiha, S. Sakalia, V. Fihaki, W. Ngaluafe, M. Naufahu, L. Fosita

JAPAN
1 K. Inagaki (H. Hirashima 33) 2 S. Horie 3 H. Yamashita (K. Hatakeyama 65) 4 S. Ito (H. Hopgood 65) 5 H. Ono 6 M. Leitch (capt.) 7 M. Broadhurst (H. Tui 24) 8 K. Holani 9 F. Tanaka (A. Hiwasa 74) 10 K. Ono (C. Wing 65) 11 Y. Fujita (T. Bennetts 74) 12 H. Tatekawa 13 K. Matsushima 14 K. Hesketh 15 A. Goromaru

Not used: H. Yuhara