The SANZAAR nations – Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa – are joined by two invitational teams Fiji and japan to form the Southern Hemipshere contingent for the Nations Championship: Japan and Fiji who were in action in Cardiff, Wales and Tokyo, Japan repsectively<\/p>\n
Japan beat Italy 27-10 to make an impressive start to their Nations Championship campaign in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
Japan fell behind early but soon hit back against the Italians, who came into the game off the back of a successful Six Nations where they beat England for the first time.<\/p>\n
Forwards coach Neal Hatley, who was stand-in coach for the suspended Eddie Jones, watched his side score two tries in the first half and one after the break in a confident performance in front of more than 20,000 fans.<\/p>\n
Captain Warner Dearns, full-back Takuro Matsunaga and flanker Ben Gunter all got on the scoresheet for Japan, who started the match with uncapped university student Ryunosuke Ito at fly-half.<\/p>\n
The home side looked like they could be in for a long evening when Italy\u2019s Juan Ignacio Brex burst through their defence to touch down for a try in the fifth minute.<\/p>\n
But Japan responded just over five minutes later when Dearns lunged over the line for their first try.Matsunaga added another midway through the first half when he finished off a slick passing move that sliced the Italian defence open.<\/p>\n
An injury for fullback Lorenzo Pani gave the visitors further problems, and Matsunaga slotted a penalty to increase Japan\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n
Italy spent the final moments of the first half camped out on the Japan line and kicked a penalty to reduce the deficit to seven points heading into the break.<\/p>\n
But Japan stretched their lead seven minutes into the second half when Gunter touched down after a period of pressure.<\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s Michael Leitch came off the bench to win his 93rd cap and gave a typically tenacious performance to protect his team\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n
Japan 27\u00a0[17] (Tries: Dearns, Matsunaga, Gunter; Cons: Matsunaga 3; Pens: Matsunaga 2) Italy 10\u00a0[10] (Try: Brex; Con: Garbisi; Pen: Garbisi)<\/p>\n
Japan: 15 Takuro Matsunaga, 14 Kazuma Ueda, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Yuya Hirose, 11 Kippei Ishida, 10 Ryunosuke Ito, 9 Naoto Saito, 8 Jack Cornelsen, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 6 Ben Gunter, 5 Warner Dearns (captain), 4 Harry Hockings, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Mamoru Harada, 1 Takato Okabe
\n\tReplacements: 16 Hayate Era, 17 Sojiro Otsuka, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Michael Stolberg, 20 Michael Leitch, 21 Tiennan Costley, 22 Itsuki Kamimura, 23 Sam Greene<\/p>\n
Italy: 15 Lorenzo Pani, 14 Malik Faissal, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Alessandro Ortombina, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti
\n\tReplacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Leonardo Marin, 23 Tommaso Allan<\/p>\n
Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
\n\tAssistant referees: Luc Ramos (France), Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
\n\tTMO: Ian Tempest (England)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Flying Fijians produced an enterprising attacking performance but were unable to convert their dominance into victory, falling 39-24 to Wales in an entertaining international Test at Principality Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Locked at 10-10 at half-time, Fiji showed glimpses of the exciting brand of rugby that has become its trademark, controlling possession, territory and several key attacking statistics.<\/p>\n
However, Wales proved clinical when opportunities presented themselves, scoring six tries to secure the win.
\n\tThe Flying Fijians made the perfect start when number eight Pita-Gus Sowakula crossed in just the second minute, with Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula adding the conversion for an early 7-0 advantage.<\/p>\n
Wales responded through flanker Jac Morgan, who crossed twice in the opening half, although both conversion attempts were unsuccessful. Armstrong-Ravula\u2019s penalty goal ensured the teams went into the break level at 10-10.<\/p>\n
Wales came out strongly after halftime, scoring two quick tries through Rhys Carre and Josh Adams to establish a 22-10 lead. Fiji refused to go away, with Elia Canakaivata crashing over before Selestino Ravutaumada finished a sweeping attacking movement just minutes later.<\/p>\n
Armstrong-Ravula converted both tries to reduce the deficit to just three points at 25-22.<\/p>\n
Despite Fiji\u2019s resurgence, Wales maintained composure in the closing stages, adding further tries through Ryan Elias and Eddie James, while a penalty goal helped seal a 39-24 victory.<\/p>\n
Although the scoreboard favoured Wales, the statistics painted a different picture of Fiji\u2019s attacking dominance.
\n\tThe Flying Fijians enjoyed 59 per cent possession and 56 per cent territory, carrying the ball 167 times compared to Wales\u2019 83 carries. Fiji gained an impressive 667 metres with ball in hand\u2014more than double Wales\u2019 261 metres\u2014while completing 182 passes and producing 32 offloads, highlighting their intent to keep the ball alive.<\/p>\n
The host union also recorded 23 clean breaks and beat 42 defenders, compared with Wales\u2019 four clean breaks and 14 defenders beaten, demonstrating Fiji\u2019s ability to consistently challenge the Welsh defensive line.<\/p>\n
However, Wales were more efficient in converting opportunities into points, finishing with six tries to Fiji\u2019s three despite enjoying significantly less possession and territory.<\/p>\n
Following the match, Head Coach Senirusi Seruvakula said discipline and unforced errors ultimately proved costly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started well, but we gave away some silly mistakes and penalties, and that cost us the game.\u201d
\n\tSeruvakula admitted Fiji were unable to capitalize on several promising attacking opportunities after their fast start.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt we could build from that first try, but unfortunately we couldn\u2019t finish some of the opportunities we created.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flying Fijians also suffered an injury setback, with Seruvakula confirming that two players are expected to be sidelined for approximately six weeks. Despite the losses, he remains confident in the depth of the squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be no excuses. That\u2019s why we selected a squad of 32 players. Injuries create opportunities for others to step up. We have another big game next week, and our focus now shifts to preparing for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fiji 24 [10] (Tries: Sowakula, Canakaivata, Ravutaumada; Cons: Armstrong-Ravula 3; Pen: Armstrong-Ravula) Wales 39 [10] (Tries: J Morgan 2, Carre, Adams, Elias, James;
\n\tCons: Edwards, Costelow 2; Pen: Edwards)<\/p>\n
Fiji: 15 Salesi Rayasi, 14 Selestino Ravutaumada, 13 Semi Radradra, 12 Josua Tuisova, 11 Jiuta Wainiqolo, 10 Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula, 9 Frank Lomani, 8 Elia Canakaivata, 7 Kitione Salawa, 6 Pita-Gus Sowakula, 5 Temo Mayanavanua, 4 Isoa Nasilasila, 3 Tim Hoyt, 2 Tevita Ikanivere, 1 Eroni Mawi.
\n\tReplacements: 16 Zuriel Togiatama, 17 Livai Natave, 18 Peni Ravai, 19 Mesake Vocevoce, 20 Peceli Yato, 21 Simione Kuruvoli, 22 Vilimoni Botitu, 23 Kalaveti Ravouvou.<\/p>\n
Wales: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Eddie James, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Jac Morgan, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Ben Carter, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Rhys Carre.
\n\tReplacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Taine Plumtree, 20 James Botham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Ellis Mee.<\/p>\n
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
\n\tAssistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
\n\tTMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The SANZAAR nations – Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa – are joined by two invitational teams Fiji…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-779686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}