Uruguay fall to Japan in Tokyo

Japan were 34-15 winners over Uruguay on Saturday at the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Tokyo. The result puts the Asian country 1-0 up in a two match series. The second test match will take place on Saturday, June 25. It will be played at Kitakyushu’s Mikuni World Stadium, on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu.

The Japanese outscored the South Americans by five tries to two. The first three tries of the contest were all scored by Japan. Winger Koga Nezuka touched down first. The debutant ran over for a 10th minute try. Captain Yu Tamara missed the conversion but added a penalty eight minutes later.

Uruguay were 8-0 down after 18 minutes and were also playing with fourteen men. Debuting flanker Lucas Bianchi was yellow carded in just the 16th minute. It was a 14-man contest for several minutes as Japanese fullback Seiya Ozaki was also yellow carded.

A scoreless period followed. The next points came in the 35th minute; Felipe Etcheverry opened Uruguay’s account with a penalty. Japan responded with N8 Tevita Tatafu crossing for an impressive solo try. It was reward for what had been a strong display from Japan’s forwards, notably so from their scrum.

Japan’s 15-3 half-time lead was increased four minutes into the second half. Hooker Kosuke Horikoshi scored the third Japanese try and put Japan into a dominant position on the scoresheet.

Los Teros needed to find their way over and into the try zone too. In his 98th cap, replacement second-rower Diego Magno scored. His 58th minute try was unconverted and responded to by Takeshi Hino five minutes later. Hino would score a second eight minute from full0time to give Japan a 34-8 lead.

The final points int to Los Teros. Back-rower Manuel Ardao scored with an Olympic dive under the posts in the 76th minute. Etcheverry converted the regulation kick to end the scoring four minutes from full-time.

The teams now travel south for the second test match. Uruguay will need a much improved performance if they are to win. The Japanese will be eyeing not only game two but their upcoming home series against France in July.

 

SCORING

JAPAN 34
Tries – K. Nezuka (10′), T. Tatafu (40′), K. Horikoshi (44′), T. Hino 2 (63′, 72′)
Cons – Y. Tamura 3/5 (40’+1′, 45′, 64′)
Pens – Y. Tamura 1/1 (18′)
YC – S. Ozaki (20′)

 

URUGUAY 15
Tries – D. Magno (58′), M. Ardao (76′)
Cons – F. Etcheverry 1/2 (76′)
Pens – F. Etcheverry 1/1 (35′)
YC – L. Bianchi (16′)

 

TEAMS

JAPAN
1 Shogo Miura (17 Kota Kaishi 60′), 2 Kosuke Horikoshi (16 Takeshi Hino 59′), 3 Shunsuke Asaoka (18 Syuhei Takeuchi 60′), 4 Wimpie van der Walt (19 Daichi Akiyama 68′), 5 Yuya Odo, 6 Koji Iino (20 Sione Lavemai 60′), 7 Hiroki Yamamoto, 8 Tevita Tatafu, 9 Takahiro Ogawa (21 Kaito Shigeno 60′), 10 Yu Tamara (capt.), 11 Koga Nezuka, 12 Timothy Lafaele (22 Harumichi Tatekawa 69′), 13 Shane Gates, 14 Koki Takeyama, 15 Seiya Ozaki (23 Taira Main 60′)

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Perillo (18 Juan Echeverría 45′), 2 Guillermo Pujadas (16 Emiliano Faccennini 69′), 3 Ignacio Péculo (17 Matías Benítez 52′), 4 Eric Dosantos, 5 Carlos Deus (19 Diego Magno 50′), 6 Lucas Bianchi (20 Tomás Etcheverry 65′), 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Ardao, 9 Tomás Inciarte (21 Santiago Álvarez 73′), 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Baltazar Amaya (22 Juan Manuel Alonso 65′), 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Nicolás Freitas, 14 Mateo Viñals, 15 Rodrigo Silva (23 José Iruleguy 69′)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Jordan Way (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Mike Fraser (New Zealand); Graham Cooper (Australia)
TMO: Chris Hart (New Zealand)

 

ATTENDANCE: 14,448