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Two teams who won their respective opening matches in the World Rugby Junior World Trophy clashed today in São José dos Campos, Brazil. The result of the match did not go the way of the country from the Americas as Uruguay fell 46-31 to Japan.
With the match in effect being a Semi Final the outcome sees Japan all but secured of a spot in the final. Japan will now go on well placed to win the Junior World Trophy.
The Japanese outscored Los Teritos today by six tries to five. The flankers Halatoa Vailea, and Shota Fukui were the star performers with both scoring doubles.
Uruguay had a star of their own and him also being a back-rower. N8 Juan Manuel Aguiar ran in a hat-trick in a performance which gave Uruguay hope and pushed the Asians late in the game.
Scoring first was Uruguay. They did so via Aguiar whose early try would be converted by fly half Matías D’Avanzo. Japan would respond to the try quickly with hooker Mamoru Harada crossing to set-up a 7-7 early scoreline.
The try would be the start of a period of Japan having the upper hand. Next to score was scrum half Kaisei Tamura who found space from an advancing scrum to go 14-7 ahead.
Uruguay’s woes were worsened with the yellow carding of loose head Ezequiel Ramos. Japan would capitalize though two tries, both of which were scored by Vailea.
Trailing 26-7 Uruguay were being overpowered though they would fight-back to score the final points of the opening half. Aguiar’s second try would see the scores at 26-14 with 40 minutes remaining.
Japanese captain Fukui crossed for two tries early in the second half. They took the Asians out to a dominant 40-14 lead though Uruguay would respond smartly with Baltazar Amaya scoring.
When Aguiar completed his hat-trick the Japanese officially took notice. They looked to complete their win by kicking for goal and would land two quick penalties in response to Aguiar’s third try.
Discipline saw Japan down to 14-men and then a late score from replacement Carlos Gruss saw a late fright for the Baby Blossoms. Ultimately they would hold on to win by a comfortable margin of 15 points.
SCORING
JAPAN 46
Tries – M. Harada (16’), K. Tamura (25’), H. Vailea 2 (31’, 33’), S. Fukui 2 (41’, 45’)
Cons – R. Fukuyama 5/6 (17’, 26’, 32’, 42’, 46’)
Pens – R. Fukuyama 2/2 (63’, 69’)
Yellow cards – T. Maruo (75’)
URUGUAY 31
Tries – J. Aguiar 3 (4’, 38’, 53’), B. Amaya (47’), C. Gruss (75’)
Cons – M. D’Avanzo 3/5 (5’, 39’, 48’)
Yellow cards – E. Ramos (23’)
TEAMS
JAPAN u20
1 Yota Kamimori, 2 Mamoru Harada, 3 Sho Maeda, 4 Ohgi Yanamoto, 5 Ryusei Koike, 6 Halatoa Vailea, 7 Shota Fukui (capt.), 8 Takamasa Maruo, 9 Kaisei Tamura, 10 Ryuto Fukuyama, 11 Futo Yamaguchi, 12 Taihei Kusaka, 13 Tomoki Osada, 14 Yuichirou Wada, 15 Ryosuke Kawase
Replacements: 16 Daiki Nishiyama, 17 Gun Tajima, 18 Syohei Tsujimura, 19 Terutaka Oka, 20 Kouki Matsumoto, 21 Akito Okui, 22 Hayato Fukunishi, 23 Ryota Tomoike, 24 Takumi Aoki, 25 Moeki Fukushi, 26 Keita Inayoshi
URUGUAY u20
1 Ezequiel Ramos, 2 Juan Martín Rippe, 3 Faustino Etchegorry, 4 Juanjuan Garese (capt.), 5 Felipe Aliaga, 6 Maxime Sonneveld, 7 Felipe Lombardo, 8 Juan Manuel Aguiar, 9 Alfonso Cat, 10 Matías D’Avanzo, 11 Baltazar Amaya, 12 Alfonso Costa, 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Juan Pablo Costabile, 15 José Iruleguy
Replacements: 16 Carlos Gruss, 17 Santiago Bonasso, 18 Ignacio Péculo, 19 Reinaldo Piussi, 20 Santiago Nicolich, 21 Carlos Deus, 22 Federico Slinger, 23 Santiago del Cerro, 24 Ignacio Rodríguez, 25 Tomás Pollio, 26 Manuel Barreiro
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)
Assistants: Damián Schneider (UAR) & Cauã Ricardo (CBRu)
