Japan edge Portugal to win u20 Trophy

Japan are headed back to the World Rugby u20 Championship after defeating Portugal 35-34 in a thrilling contest at the Estadio Martins Pereira on Sunday evening. Portugal were in the lead at halftime and it wasn’t until the 75th minute when the Baby Blossoms were able to secure the winning score.

It was the worst possible start for Portugal, who were down 14-0 with just 10 minutes on the clock. Takamasa Maruo drove in off the back of an advancing scrum for the first try. The second came just two minutes later as Halatoa Vailea stepped out of a tackle and raced in on the left side. Ryuto Fukuyama converted both.

An incredible turn of fortunes saw Rodrigo Marta snap up a spilled ball on the restart to score just seconds after Fukuyama’s successful kick. Another score wouldn’t come until 20 minutes later.

Ryosuke Kawase found himself in trouble for tackling Raffaele Storti in the air and the fullback was dispatched for a 10-minute timeout. Portugal opted for the lineout from the penalty and David Costa was driven over with Jerónimo Portela’s conversion drawing the scores level.

Portugal took the lead soon after as Raffaele Storti came in off his wing and scythed through the defensive line to score a seven pointer. A high tackle from Fukuyama reduced Japan to only 13 players but the 21-14 score would hold to the intermission.

Portela landed a penalty goal just two minutes into the second half to stretch the gap to 10 points. It began to close just after Fukuyama returned from the bin. The Portuguese maul defense disintegrated and gave Mamoru Harada an easy route to the line. Fukuyama made no mistake with the extras.

Storti went over for his record-tying 9th try of the tournament to make it a two-score game once again. A scintillating break from Marta immediately after the restart looked certain to add another try but a brilliant cover tackle from Futo Yamaguchi cut down Pedro Lucas and forced a knock-on with just a couple meters to spare.

The Baby Blossoms cleared their lines but soon conceded a penalty well within Portela’s range. Instead the kick drifted wide and Portugal’s golden opportunity was lost.

A long kickoff pinned Portugal in their end and after absorbing sustained pressure, Japan were awarded an attacking scrum. They were in the ascendancy all game at the set piece and this was no exception. After a couple resets the scrum popped up again and this time the referee went under the posts.

The Portuguese had one last score up their sleeve. Their forwards couldn’t quite drive over but the overlap was made and a wide ball found Francisco Salgado in space, the right winger easily stepping the final defender to make the line. It was too difficult a kick for Portela, however, and the door remained open with six points the difference.

Yamaguchi came in off his wing to make a half-break and put Portugal back on their heels. A penalty gave Japan another attacking scrum but this time Portugal held their ground. The ball came out and the Baby Blossoms pack tried time and again to make the line. At last the try would come as Kawase came up from his fullback position to hit and spin over for the score.

Fukuyama had only chip over the conversion to take the one point lead. One last opportunity came for Portugal but a knock-on handed the ball straight back and Japan would grind out the clock to seal the win.

 

SCORING

JAPAN 35
Tries – T. Maruo (7′), H. Vailea (9′), M. Harada (49′), Penalty try (65′), R. Kawase (75′)
Cons – R. Fukuyama 4/4 (8′, 10′, 50′, 76′)
Yellow cards – R. Kawase (31′), R. Fukuyama (39′)

PORTUGAL 34
Tries – R. Marta (10′), D. Costa (32′), R. Storti 2 (36′, 53′), F. Salgado (69′)
Cons – J. Portela 3/5 (11′, 33′, 37′)
Pens – J. Portela 1/3 (42′)

 

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 Yuchirou 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

PORTUGAL u20
1 David Costa, 2 Rodrigo Bento, 3 Duarte Conde, 4 Helano Alberto, 5 Martim Belo, 6 Manuel Maia, 7 Manuel Pinto, 8 José Roque (capt.), 9 Joaquim Félix, 10 Jerónimo Portela, 11 Francisco Salgado, 12 José Do Carmo, 13 Rodrigo Marta, 14 Raffaele Storti, 15 Simão Bento

Replacements: 16 Márcio Pinheiro, 17 António Cunha, 18 Frederico Simões, 19 André Gouveia, 20 José Madeira, 21 Sebastião Silva, 22 Pedro Lucas, 23 Tomás Lamboglia, 24 João Vieira, 25 José Santos, 26 Francisco Rosa

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Damián Schneider (UAR)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (USAR) & Cauã Ricardo (CBRu)