Japan too much for Brazil

Japan got their tournament off to a winning start as expected, overwhelming hosts Brazil en route to a 56-24 victory. While the pre-tournament favorites were short of their best, they had more than enough skill to score eight tries and pass their first test with ease.

To their credit, Brazil were resilient on home turf. It took a dozen minutes for the Baby Blossoms to score even a penalty goal, and nearly 20 for the first try. Appropriately, it was captain Shota Fukui who muscled over from close range to kick-start the stalling Japanese engine.

The left boot of Lucas Spago chipped over a penalty goal for Brazil’s first points. Two tries from right winger Futo Yamaguchi followed in quick succession. The first was a neat step to beat the final defender into the corner. The second saw him looping around into the midfield on a first-phase scrum move.

One try for each side would come before the break. A handling error nearly gave Matheus de Oliveira a free run to the line. He was stopped just short but a couple short phases later and Filippo Bugno was in for Brazil. The Japanese response came swiftly as Yamaguchi stepped to within inches and Takamasa Maruo charged onto a short pass to finish it off.

Takumi Aoki landed an early penalty in the second half before the scrum went to work, earning a penalty try. Brazil got one back as hooker Leonardo Da Silva barreled over the line. Fukui was next to score for Japan, a virtual carbon-copy of Maruo’s efforts after Moeki Fukushi broke down the left wing.

Moments later Halatoa Vailea went on the rampage down the right flank, bumping off three defenders to score a long-range individual effort. It was Fukushi’s turn next, the big winger fending his way in for Japan’s 8th try. Brazil would get the final say as Gerónimo Olivares intercepted a loose pass to sprint in from halfway.

Round Two will see Japan facing the other South American entry – Uruguay – on Saturday. Brazil will hope for better fortunes against a new opponent in Kenya.

 

SCORING

JAPAN 56
Tries – S. Fukui 2 (18’, 67’), F. Yamaguchi 2 (26’, 33’), T. Maruo (40’), Penalty try (53’), H. Vailea (70’), M. Fukushi (73’)
Cons – R. Fukuyama 2/4 (34’, 40’), T. Aoki 2/3 (68’, 74’)
Pens – R. Fukuyama 1/1 (12’), T. Aoki 1/1 (47’)

BRAZIL 24
Tries – F. Bugno (36’), L. Da Silva (59’), G. Olivares (78’)
Cons – L. Spago 2/2 (37’, 60’), C. Moura 1/1 (79’)
Pens – L. Spago 1/1 (23’)

 

TEAMS

JAPAN u20
1 Yota Kamimori, 2 Mamoru Harada, 3 Sho Maeda, 4 Shu Yamamoto, 5 Ryusei Koike, 6 Halatoa Vailea, 7 Shota Fukui (capt.), 8 Takamasa Maruo, 9 Kaisei Tamura, 10 Ryuto Fukuyama, 11 Futo Yamaguchi, 12 Yuichirou Wada, 13 Tomoki Osada, 14 Moeki Fukushi, 15 Ryosuke Kawase

Replacements: 16 Daiki Nishiyama, 17 Gun Tajima, 18 Syohei Tsujimura, 19 Ohgi Yanamoto, 20 Kouki Matsumoto, 21 Akito Okui, 22 Hayato Fukunishi, 23 Ryota Tomoike, 24 Takumi Aoki

BRAZIL u20
1 Naassom Porto, 2 Leonardo Da Silva, 3 Henrique Ribeiro, 4 Samoel Bertan, 5 Filippo Bugno, 6 Guilherme Dias, 7 Rafael Dos Santos, 8 Adrio de Melo (capt.), 9 Felipe Cunha, 10 Lucas Spago, 11 Murillo Bonesso, 12 Joel Santos, 13 Gabriel Quirino, 14 Vicent Quirino, 15 Carlos Proença

Replacements: 16 Felipe Quevedo, 17 Marcos de Melo, 18 Henrique Da Silva, 19 Gabriel Oliviera, 20 Weslley Barbosa, 21 Matheus de Oliviera, 22 Alisson Kalkmann, 23 Guylherme Rangel, 24 Carlos Moura, 25 João Furst, 26 Gerónimo Olivares

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Luke Rogan (USAR)