Japanese misery deepens in NZ
Samoa trounce the Brave Blossoms
Japan conceded more than fifty points for the third time in just three weeks on Saturday, finding themselves on the receiving end of a 53-9 defeat to Samoa in the Pacific Five Nations double-header in New Plymouth, New Zealand.
But Samoa started slowly, unable to find their way through Japan's well-organised defence.
Indeed, Japan lead 9-5 before leaking two tries in the final five minutes of the first half to the leave the half-time scoreboard reading 22-9 in favour of the islanders.
Despite the margin of the eight-try victory, Samoa took time to warm to the task.
Ultimately it was the superior speed and power of the Samoans that proved decisive as they finally cut loose thanks to more than missed 30 tackles from the Japanese, and Semo Sititi conceded his team had underestimated Japan.
"We talked about starting well, but unfortunately Japan dominated us in the scrums and line-outs," the winning skipper told the NZPA.
"The boys probably underestimated Japan. All of a sudden the Japanese were more committed than us, but we came back in the second half. It was a good lesson for us."
Japan remain winless from their two matches and face the Junior All Blacks in Dunedin next Saturday while Samoa play Fiji in Suva.
The scorers:
For Samoa:
Tries: Iosua 2, Senio 2, Fa'atau, Lima, Vili, Tuilagi
Cons: Vili 5
Pen: Vili
For Japan:
Pens: Ando 2
Drop: Ando
Teams:
Japan: 15 Takashi Miyake, 14 Yuta Imamura (Mizuno), 13 Atsushi Moriya, 12 Hideyuki Yoshida, 11 Nataniela Oto, 10 Eiji Ando, 9 Mamoru Ito, 8 Hajime Kiso, 7 Hare Makiri, 6 Takashi Kikutani, 5 Tsuyoshi Sato, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Ryo Yamamura ,2 Yuji Matsubara, 1 Yuichi Hisadomi
Replacements: 16 Takashi Yamaoka, 17 Masahito Yamamoto, 18 Kenji Kasai, 19 Toshizumi Kitagawa, 20 Wataru Ikeda, 21 Hiroki Mizuno, 22 Takanori Kumagae
Manu Samoa: 15 Timoteo Iosua. 14 Lome Faatau, 13 Brian Lima, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Anitelea Tuilagi, 10 Tanner Vili, 9 Garrick Cowley, 8 Semo Sititi (Captain), 7 Ulia Ulia,6 Daniel Farani, 5 Pelu Pahivi-Taele, 4 Daniel Leo, 3 Jeremy To’Omuli, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 1 Philemon Toleafoa
Repl;acements: 16 Muliufi Salanoa, 17 Donald Kerslake,18 Chad Slade, 19 Alafoti Faosiliva, 20 John Senio, 21 Douglas Sanft, 22 Lolo Lui