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Japan was thwarted in their quest to further shake the chains of the rugby world as they were defeated 45-10 by Scotland at Kingsholm. The score didn’t completely reflect the effort put in by Japan. The Brave Blossoms only trailed 12-7 at halftime and were as close as 12-10 in the 46th minute before Scotland went on a scoring barrage in the final 20 minutes of play.
Scotland Captain Greig Laidlaw put up 20 points with his boot with four first half penalty goals and four second half conversions. Scottish outside center Mark Bennett scored two tries to help put away the upset minded Japan.
It didn’t take long to get the scoring started as Laidlaw broke the ice with a 3rd minute penalty. He backed that up with a penalty goal in the 12th minute to stake Scotland to a 6-0 lead.
Japan was first across the line as Amanaki Mafi rolled over to get the Brave Blossoms on the scoreboard. The ensuing conversion gave Japan their first and only lead of the match 7-6.
Their lead was short lived as Laidlaw added penalty goals in the 18th and 20th minute to put Scotland ahead 12-7 midway through the first half. Both Laidlaw and Japan’s Ayumu Goromaru had shots at goal during the remained portion of the 1st half, but were unable to convert the opportunities into points.
With Scotland clinging to a narrow 12-7 at the break, fans were left wondering if they could be in for another upset from Japan. Goromaru kept those hopes alive with a 46th minute penalty to cut the lead to 12-10. With both sides playing enterprising rugby, the match was very much in the balance.
Scotland got a bit of breathing room with a John Hardie try in the 46th minute, but it wasn’t until Bennett scored his first try of the match in the 56th minute that Scottish fans took a breath of relief. The Hardie try was Scotland’s first Rugby World Cup try since their opening match of the 2011 World Cup, a draught of almost four matches. Hardie also produced a banner day on defense, notching 21 tackles in the winning effort.
With the seal broken, Scotland upped their pressure and the first signs of Japan’s short turnaround came to light. Tries by Tommy Seymour, another by Bennett, and finally one from Finn Russell, proved to be the death blow for Japan as Scotland finished with a 45-10 victory.
The loss is far from the end for Japan as they now have remaining matches against Samoa and the United States. They will not only need to win both matches, but will need to score some points to make up some of the ground from their 35-point defeat from Scotland. Japan gets a bit of a rest before they take on Samoa in a pivotal Pool B match on October 3rd.
Scotland gets their campaign off to a solid start as they look to return to the quarterfinals. They’ll face off against the USA on September 27th in their next Pool B fixture.
SCOTLAND 45
Tries: Hardie (48’), Bennett (56’, 69’), Seymour (64’), Russell (74’)
Conv: Laidlaw (57’, 65’, 70’, 75’)
Pen: Laidlaw (3’, 12’, 18’, 20’)
JAPAN 10
Tries: Mafi (15’)
Conv: Goromaru (16’)
Pen: Goromaru (46’)
SCOTLAND
1 A. Dickinson (R. Grant 65) 2 R. Ford (F. Brown 70) 3 W. Nel (J. Welsh 70) 4 G. Gilchrist (R. Gray 50) 5 J. Gray 6 R. Wilson (J. Strauss 57) 7 J. Hardie 8 D. Denton 9 G. Laidlaw (capt.) 10 F. Russell 11 S. Lamont 12 M. Scott 13 M. Bennett (P. Horne 75) 14 T. Seymour 15 S. Hogg (S. Maitland 65)
JAPAN
1 K. Inagaki (M. Mikami HT) 2 S. Horie (T. Kizu 70) 3 H. Yamashita (K. Hatakeyama 53) 4 L. Thompson (S. Ito 64) 5 J. Ives (S. Makabe 61) 6 M. Leitch (capt.) 7 M. Broadhurst 8 A. Mafi (H. Tui 45) 9 F. Tanaka (A. Hiwasa 64) 10 H. Tatekawa (K. Hesketh 72) 11 K. Fukuoka 12 Y. Tamura 13 M. Sa’u 14 K. Matsushima 15 A. Goromaru
