Pool B: England and Samoa enjoy wins in Tokyo
By Rich Freeman
From Tokyo
England and Samoa both emerged victorious on the second day of Pool B matches at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo on Tuesday.
FULL TIME: JAPAN 20-29 SAMOA
Samoa made sure of a top eight finish at the IRB TOSHIBA Junior World Championship 2009 when they defeated hosts Japan 29-20 before a crowd of 10,693 at Tokyo’s Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
The result means that the Samoans trail Pool B leaders England, who they play on Saturday at the same venue, by one point heading into the final round of pool matches.
It also means Japan face Scotland with the winner assured of a place in next year’s competition, while the losers must take part in regional qualifiers for the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy.
The match was always going to be about whether Japan’s speed and organisational skills could prevail over the Samoan’s bulk and off-the-cuff approach.
In the end it was the latter, but only just as the Japanese pack scored three tries from rolling mauls.
The early exchanges once again saw Japan tackle tenaciously and they needed to as the Samoans looked to run at every opportunity.
One early counterattack by Rayhan Laulala took Samoa to within five metres of the line and from a resulting penalty Tito Sufia sprinted over for the opening try.
Japan responded in the best possible way with Shohei Toyoshima on the end of a superb passage of play that saw forwards and backs interchanging and some wonderful handling under pressure.
However, the full back just missed with his conversion, and Laulala regained the lead for Samoa with a simple penalty from in front of the posts in the 15th minute.
Uini Atonio epitomised Samoa’s weight advantage and the 152kg prop set up Iafeta Laau for the islanders’ second try in the 20th minute. Atonio brushed aside a couple of defenders before showing good pace and handling skills for a big man, passing onto Laau, who went over untouched.
Laulala slotted over the conversion and was then on hand two minutes later to add the extras to Taupo Sefo’s try. The wing charged down and re-gathered a poor Japanese clearance kick as Samoa went 22-5 up.
Sefo’s try seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Japanese and they needed a score to stay in the match. But despite an adventurous approach it proved beyond them for the remainder of the half, much to the disappointment of the large crowd.
However, the crowd was up on their feet in the 47th minute when Japan finally got the scoreboard ticking over again.
Captain Ryuhei Arita was on hand to touch down as the Japanese pack defied its weight disadvantage to push the Samoans back following a lineout five metres out.
To show that wasn’t a one-off, Japan then repeated the trick in the 59th minute with Arita again credited with the try as Japan closed the gap to seven points.
Falamiga Selesele quietened the crowd briefly when he crossed in the 67th minute to ensure Samoa picked up a try bonus point before Arita scored his third try of the evening as Japan once again got their rolling maul going.
The try saw Japan pick up its first point of the tournament but their inability to convert them was to prove costly as time ran out.
POST MATCH REACTION
Japan captain Ryuhei Arita: “It was a great achievement to score tries from mauling, which is our strength. One of the main reasons why we lost this game is because in the first half we couldn’t play the game to our pace, and we just lost too many points. I cannot comment on my performance today, because the only achievement is to win this game, so even though I might have played well, that means nothing.”
Japan head coach Masahiro Kunda: “There was such a big Japanese crowd showing up for our previous game against England and there was even more in attendance today. There were more than ten thousand people coming to cheer for our players and we really highly appreciate that. Unfortunately, we couldn’t achieve a better result with this game.”
“For the next game, which is our last game at the pool stages, we would like to focus on winning. We have to focus on winning, because otherwise we lose our qualification to participate in the next JWC next year. So in the game against Scotland our players will have to show their individual strengths and the experiences they gained along the road with the first two pool games against Samoa and England. It is a very short time frame, we only have three days, but I believe our captain will reorganize the team effectively and lead a successful game.”
“If I should mention any remarkable players in this tournament, captain Arita would be the first one to pick up, and also centre Aisea Havea. All those players, who participated in last year’s tournament have developed very well, but there are also other players who joined the team this year, for their sake I really hope we can join this tournament again next year.”
Samoa head coach Sogi Meleisea: "Our team played very good today, I thank the boys for their effort but I am also grateful to Japan’s team for the great game today. We were expecting their mauling style, and the crowd also expected that. There was great support for their team. Our team was doing well today, our only concern is to get our injuries fixed and take the boys together as a team for the next game."
Samoa captain Siaosi Otto Iona: "The game was pretty tough, all teams are here to win. In the second half we got under pressure."
FULL TIME: ENGLAND 30-7 SCOTLAND
England remain on track for a spot in the IRB TOSHIBA Junior World Championship 2009 semi finals with a 30-7 win over Scotland at Tokyo’s Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
On a muggy humid evening, last year’s runners-up were too big and too strong for their rivals, who were quite clearly the favourites among the crowd, despite the presence of the England Counties team currently on tour in Japan.
Scotland started lively, keeping the ball alive for more than a dozen phases from the kick-off, but the England defence proved impregnable. England meanwhile made sure they got points from their very first opportunity, Tom Homer slotting over a penalty from 46 metres in the third minute.
England were being made to work hard, particularly in the scrums where the Scots did a good job disrupting English ball. From one such scrum in the ninth minute Peter Horne went close to bringing the teams level, but his kick from wide out on the left just drifted wide.
England, however, made sure points didn’t go amiss when the opportunity presented itself. In the 13th minute wing Charlie Sharples picked up a loose ball and sprinted 70 metres for the opening try, which was well converted by Homer as England went 10-0 up.
It was a pattern that was to repeat itself throughout the half. Scotland enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory but were simply unable to turn pressure into points.
England, meanwhile, made sure that just their third visit to the Scots' 22 resulted in their second try, Henry Trinder making the most of a good grubber kick from Rob Miller to touch down under the posts.
Homer added the conversion and then slotted over a penalty as England went into the break leading 20-0.
It was a different England that started the second half as they took the game to the Scots straight from the restart.
Luke Eves went over three minutes after the break, but as with the Scots in the first half, England then found it hard to turn pressure into points, mainly due to some tenacious Scottish defending.
Carl Fearns brought up England’s bonus point in the 77th minute when he rumbled over from a ruck close to the line and although Peter Jericevich scored a late consolation try it was too little too late for the Scots.
POST MATCH REACTION
England coach Mark Mapletoft: “We are pleased, we took the five points from the game, but we know we can play better and know we all need to play better certainly starting on Saturday and for the rest of the tournament. We have big ambitions but at the minute we are on 50 percent.”
“We have played Scotland before in a similar sort of game. We knew they would be very fired up and test us defensively. I was really pleased defensively, we really stood up and were counted in the tackle and we didn’t give them many opportunities to score which was pleasing.”
"I was quite impressed with Samoa in their game against Scotland. I thought they showed great composure at the end to sneak the win. Really intrigued to see how they cope with Japan and the speed of the ball and game. Our lads know they will face a very physical test - they have a very big pack. We will be preparing this week with a specific game plan in mind to win the match."
England captain Luke Eves: “We are delighted to win the game, but we know we aren’t performing as well as we can, but we are still winning and getting bonus points and we are one more win away from winning the pool.”
Scotland coach Rob Moffat: “We are always disappointed to lose a game and we didn’t seem to get a reward for the rugby we played in the first half. We are playing some good rugby at times, but with England they are clinical – when they look like they will score, they will score. At 20-0 at half time we didn’t think it was a true reflection of the game but we have got to realise we have to get points with the good play we have.”
"We need to show some character now, we still have three games left. I think the big thing about this is that you always want to win, but these are young players and what we want to see is if they can they move on, can they learn from the game tonight and play better on Saturday."
