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Fielding a largely unchanged side from that which opened the Asia Rugby Championship with an 85-0 win over Korea last weekend, Japan ran in six tries to comprehensively beat Hong Kong 38-3 in their second fixture on Saturday.
Japan opened the scoring in the fifth minute through flanker Shokei Kin and fly-half Ryohei Yamanaka coolly slotted the conversion, his first of four on the day, to put the Brave Blossoms ahead 7-0.
Six minutes later it was livewire scrum-half and captain Keisuke Uchida who found space for the visitors after dancing through Hong Kong’s first line of defence from the back of the scrum. With a 10-metre head start on full-back Alex McQueen (pictured above), Uchida turned on the afterburners to cross over for Japan’s second try. Yamanaka’s conversion from the left side was unsuccessful.
Hong Kong got their first points on the board in the 15th minute from a Ben Rimene penalty after good work in the build-up from number eight Dan Falvey and McQueen.
The remainder of the half was evenly contested for the most part and it took a moment of individual brilliance from winger Kentaro Kodama, who tiptoed through some flailing Hong Kong tackles along the touchline, to score Japan’s third try of the half. Yamanaka’s conversion gave Japan a 19-3 lead and the scoreline remained that way for the next 17 minutes up until half-time.
LATE SURGE
The first points for just over half an hour were delivered when Japan number eight Tevita Tatafu popped up in possession on the left wing before crashing his way nearly to the try-line. Hong Kong stopped Tatafu’s charge but not before the off-load to centre Ryoko Nakamura, who scored the visitors’ fourth try in the 55th minute. Yamanaka’s conversion put Japan up 26-3.
Japan then used their bench to good effect with Hiroki Yamamoto coming on for Tatufa a minute later and going on to collect two close-range tries in the 63rd minute, converted by Yamanaka, and the 76th minute to put the visitors clear 38-3.
“It was a much harder test for us today than against Korea,” said interim Japan coach Ryuji Nakatake. “Hong Kong put a lot of pressure on us at the breakdown and we conceded a few too many penalties, which is something we will need to work on, but I’m happy with the score especially to not have conceded a try for a second week running.”
Hong Kong coach Leigh Jones was philosophical about the result. “Japan had too much power and pace and their ability to perform the skills under that level of intensity was better than ours. We need to continue to work at our set piece and our scrum has got to get better,” he said.
“We also need to work more on getting across the gain-line and putting a dent in their defence. On the odd occasion that we did that they looked reasonably vulnerable, but we just can’t do it often enough at the moment.
“But that’s our challenge. We’re six months into professionalism in our 15s set-up and that's where we need to get to,” said Jones.
The result did not affect either country's World Rugby Ranking because the match did not carry any points due to the 15-place differential between the sides.
TOP 50 FOR PHILIPPINES
The Philippines are on the rise, however, after coming away with a 15-10 win over Malaysia in the opening round of Asia Rugby Championship Division 1 on Sunday.
The victory came with 1.14 rankings points – enough to propel them up five places into the world’s top 50 nations, to 49th.
Malaysia twice took the lead but a Terence Carrol try in the 68th was enough to seal a slim victory for the Philippines at the Royal Selangor Club in Bukit Kiara.
Malaysia drop two places to 60, one ahead of Singapore, who gave the higher-ranked Sri Lanka a fright in the first game of the day before losing 33-17.
Ranked 38th in the world and 21 spots higher than their opponents, the Sri Lankans found themselves trailing by two points at the break. But the South Asian side awoke in the next 40 minutes to score 18 unanswered points to seal the win.
As a result, Sri Lanka gain just under half a point to move up one place to 37th in the rankings, sandwiched in between the Netherlands and Poland.
The Division 1 winners will get a shot at promotion into the Top 3 division, via a play-off against the bottom-placed team of the ongoing competition featuring continental powerhouses Japan, Korea and Hong Kong.
UKRAINE ON THE UP
Four matches took place in the European Nations Cup over the weekend with wins for Ukraine, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Norway.
A last-gasp drop goal from fly-half Segiy Tserkovniy completed a 30-27 victory for Ukraine against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.
The Dutch led 17-10 at half-time and were on course for their first win over the eastern Europeans since they came out on top in the opening game between the nations back in 1997.
However, a brace of tries from number eight Vitalii Orlov in the space of five second-half minutes saw Ukraine seize the initiative as the game entered the final quarter.
The Netherlands replacement forward Krijn Twigt came off the bench to score twice and put the game right back in the balance, but Tserkovniy kept his nerve to settle the game at the death.
Ukraine will be assured of second place in Division 1B behind champions Belgium if they avoid defeat at home to Moldova next Saturday. The Netherlands conclude their campaign away to bottom-of-the-table Sweden.
Ukraine’s victory came with a gain of just under one full ranking point, moving them above Kenya and Chile into 27th place. The Netherlands drop two places to 36th with Czech Republic and Brazil benefitting.
TITLE DECIDER
Slovenia racked up a record score as they kept their Division 2C title hopes alive with a 38-23 win over Austria in Ljubliana. They are now three points behind leaders Luxembourg who they play on Saturday in the final game of the season.
Slovenia remain 65th in the rankings – four below Luxembourg – after a gain of just one hundredth of a point. Austria stay 89th.
Fly-half Sabahudin Subašić kicked three penalties and converted both Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tries as the newly-crowned Division 2D champions recovered from a 10-6 half-time deficit to beat Bulgaria 23-15 in Sofia (pictured left).
Bosnia and Herzegovina climb two places to 73rd after a gain of 0.68 of a point, while Bulgaria are unchanged in 95th
Norway secured second spot in the same division with a narrow 28-24 win over Turkey. The game had no bearing on the rankings because Turkey are not a member union of World Rugby.