Japan blow over Canada in Uruguay

The weather was a marked improvement over Tuesday but the result was not for Canada as they were crushed by Japan to the tune of 50-12 in their second round World Rugby u20 Trophy match at the Estadio Charrúa on Saturday. A clinical performance from the Japanese saw them build up a 35-0 lead while Canada struggled to get anything going offensively.

Handling errors crippled Canadian efforts and handed the ball immediately to Japan from the kickoff. A patient approach paid off and Chang-Ho Ahn reached out to score the first try with less than two minutes on the clock.

A poor clearance kick gave Canada an attacking lineout a few minutes later and it looked as though they might capitalize on the opportunity. Simple hands down the backline put Aidan McMullan in a gap but the fullback was halted inches short. Anton Ngongo was on hand to take a short ball from the recycle and looked to have stretched over but the referee ruled that he had taken too long to place the ball and instead awarded a penalty to Japan.

There would be little else for Canada to cheer about in the half. The set piece was under immense pressure and Cole Keith was sent to the bin after a scrum collapsed. From an ensuing restart Japan were awarded a penalty try. Next it was the rolling maul that did damage and it was Ahn again who finished off the move from in close. Takeshi Sasaki made it three tries before Keith returned as he wriggled through the post defense to reach the line.

The second half started just as badly. Canada were caught short-handed on the blindside from a counter-attack and Faulua Makisi was freed down the left to slide into the corner. Jake Thiel finally got his team on the board with a breakaway intercept from halfway but it was erased soon after. Japan got the shove on at the scrum and though Shinko Tsuchiya was stopped short, Makisi was there to pick and brush off two would-be tacklers for his second try.

Three more scores, all academic, would come before full-time. Slick handling put Yoshiyuki Koga into the corner and then a hard line from Shimpei Kamata off a ruck brought up the half century. Ngongo got his name on the board after all by beating three defenders after a superb take at the restart.

As the seconds ticked away the sinking feeling set in to the Canadians whose hopes of reaching even a 3rd-place final have now been dashed. They will now face Chile on Wednesday in their final pool match with the winner to play for 5th next Sunday. Japan are on the other end of the spectrum and will take on Namibia in a de facto Semi Final with the winner moving on to the Trophy Final and a shot at promotion to the top flight.

 

SCORING

JAPAN 50
Tries – C. Ahn 2 (2′, 24′), Penalty try (19′), T. Sasaki (28′), F. Makisi 2 (42′, 52′), Y. Koga (66′), S. Kamata (75′)
Cons – T. Kishioka 4/6 (3′, 25′, 29′, 43′), K. Naka 0/1

CANADA 12
Tries – Ja. Thiel (46′), A. Ngongo (77′)
Cons – W. Kelly 1/1 (47′). B. Prevost 0/1
Yellow cards – C. Keith (17′)

 

TEAMS

JAPAN
1 Chang-Ho Ahn, 2 Hinata Takei, 3 Kan Nakano, 4 Naoaki Horibe, 5 Ryuga Hashimoto, 6 Faulua Makisi, 7 Takeshi Sasaki, 8 Shinko Tsuchiya, 9 Takumi Sue, 10 Taichi Mano (capt.), 11 Shota Fukui, 12 Tomoki Kishioka, 13 Yudai Yamamoto, 14 Yoshiyuki Koga, 15 Kosuke Naka

Replacements: 16 Miyu Arai, 17 Shimpei Kamata, 18 Taiki Fujii, 19 Ryo Kayutsuka, 20 Feinga Fakai, 21 Kenji Harada, 22 Yuto Matsuoka

CANADA
1 Connor Sampson, 2 Steven Ng, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Liam Doll, 5 Matt Beukeboom, 6 Lachlan Currie, 7 James O’Neill, 8 Jake Thiel, 9 Fraser Hurst, 10 Will Kelly, 11 Cole Davis, 12 Josh Thiel, 13 George Barton (capt.), 14 Anton Ngongo, 15 Aidan McMullan

Replacements: 16 Jack McRogers, 17 Liam Murray, 18 Nick Frost, 19 Thomas Davidson, 20 William McDougall-Percillier, 21 Brennig Prevost, 22 Niko Clironomos

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Stephen Copeman (HKRFU)
Assistants: Francisco González (URU) & Caua Ricardo Santos (CBRu)