Brave Blossoms' brave defence

Japan won the second Test against Canada 27-6 (four tries to nil) in Tokyo on Saturday, a harder match than the first Saturday and demanding a great defensive effort of the Japanese.

Both coaches were pleased with the match - John Kirwan for his side's defensive effort and Kieran Crowley for the chance to play such a match as the World Cup looms.

Canada attacked first but Japan scored first when Alisi Tupuailei broke and sent fullback Go Aruga in for a try. 5-0 after 8 minutes.

Hitoshi Ono was stopped just short of the line and then Japan struck again. From a five-metre scrum they attacked and Kensuke Hatakeyama dived over for a try which Ryan Nicholas converted. 12-0 after 20 minutes.

Three minutes later James Pritchard goaled a penalty for Canada. That made the half-time score 12-3.

In the second half Japan repeated the dose with another two tries, the first my Michael Leitch after a good break from captain Takashi Kikutani. Shaun Webb converted. 19-3 after 47 minutes.

Ander Monro and Webb kicked penalty goals to make the score 22-6 with 19 minutes to play.

Webb created the fourth try when he intercepted and ran 80 metres. He was tackled but Onozawa kept things going and James Arlidge and Nicholas eventually put Ayumu Goromaru over for the try.

Canada laid siege to the Japanese line but the defences repulsed them.

Afterwards Kirwan said: “Hats off to the defence. Canada had most of the possession but our guys kept defending and that’s great.

“Canada played a lot better and put us under pressure at the rucks. We wanted to speed up the game and play an expansive game and they certainly shut that down.”

Canada coach Kieran Crowley said: was full of praise for Japan.

“Japan taught us a lesson. Hopefully we can learn from the experience but the trip here has been a huge learning curve.

“Our execution of the things we tried to do was not what it should be. We only crossed their line once in the last minute in Sendai, while they outscored us by a pretty hefty margin. It’s an area we are going to have to look pretty closely at.”

Looking ahead, Kirwan said: “We haven't qualified yet and won't be taking the Asian Five Nations lightly.

“Our goal is to play countries ahead of us like Samoa and Scotland. We need to understand where we are at. We need to improve as a team and control things when they get tough, like we did today.”

Crowley agreed, saying: “We need games like this. We need to play countries that are close to us in the standings. This was outstanding preparation for the World Cup.”

Scorers:

For Japan:
Tries: Aruga, Leich, Hatakeyama, Goromaru
Cons: Nicholas, Webb
Pen: Webb
 
For Canada:
Pens: Pritchard 2

Teams
 
Japan: 15 Go Aruga, 14 Kosuke Endo, 13 Alisi Tupuailei, 12 Ryan Nicholas, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 Shaun Webb, 9 Tomoki Yoshida, 8 Takashi Kikutani (captain), 7 Phil O’Reilly, 6 Michael Leitch, 5 Hitoshi Ono, 4 Toshizumi Kitagawa, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Naoki Kawamata.
Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Hisateru Hirashima, 18 Shinya Makabe, 19 Toetuíu Taufa, 20 Yuki Yatomi, 21 James Arlidge, 22 Ayumu Goromaru

Canada: 15 James Pritchard, 14 Ciaran Hearn, 13 Matt Evans, Bryn Keys, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Justin Mensah-Coker, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Sean White, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Adam Kleeberger, 6 Nanyak Dala, 5 Tyler Hotson, 4 Jebb Sinclair, 3 Doug Wooldridge, 2 Pat Riordan (aptain), 1 Kevin Tkachuk
Replacements: 16 Mike Pletch, 17 Dan Pletch, 18 Chauncey O'Toole, 19 Mark MacSween, 20 Phil Mack, 21 Nathan Hirayama, 22 Sean Duke
 
Referee: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Keith Brown (New Zealand), Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
Assessor: Scott Young (Australia)