« September 2010 »
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |
|
 |
 |
| click on the flag link to the union |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Japan keep streak alive |
Japan smashed their way to a 59-6 victory past Hong Kong to keep their slate clean at the HSBC Asian Five Nations championship on Saturday.
The defending champions powered their way to a nine-try romp with sensational scrum-half Fumiaki Tanaka the architect of the comfortable victory which left Japan with a perfect 2-0 win record and halfway towards successfully retaining their Asian title for a second successive year.
"It was a six out of ten today and I'm pretty happy," said Japan head coach John Kirwan. "We were put under a lot of pressure by Hong Kong, especially in the first half but I'm happy with the way we finished."
Japan led 26-6 at the break as a spirited home team, buoyed by raucous support at the Hong Kong Football Club, threw everything at the visitors. But Japan's powerful forwards gradually enforced their will on the game resulting in a further five tries being added to the four scored in the first half.
"It was a really good contest for us. Hong Kong can be proud of the first 40 minutes. They threw everything at us and put us under pressure. But in the second half we hung on to the ball more and with a bit more patience and it worked as we scored a few more tries," Kirwan said.
Man-of-the-match Tanaka was at the heart of Japan's rampant attacking play. His sniping runs from the base of the scrums and rucks caused huge problems for Hong Kong.
"He is the smallest man in world rugby but he's got a big heart and a great vision. He had a good game," a pleased Kirwan said.
Japan who opened their campaign with an 87-10 victory over Kazakhstan last weekend in Osaka, took time to get into top gear as Hong Kong had the lion's share of possession in the first half.
But the superiority of the Asian champions forced its way through resulting in tries to prop Naoki Kawamata, flanker Yoshitaka Nakayama, fullback Jack Tarrant and tighthead prop Kensuke Hatakeyama.
Hong Kong could only reply through two penalties from fly-half Kenzo Pannell although they came close twice to scoring tries through some good work from mid-fielders Simon Hempel and Rowan Varty before a scrambling defence shut them out.
"We needed more patience and ball control, needed to be more disciplined at the ruck time. We weren't getting the ball, Hong Kong had 70 per cent of the ball," Kirwan said.
Japan came back after the break fired up. Captain Takahashi Kikutani led the way as he powered over from a five-metre scrum to make it 33-6. Prop Hatakeyama then collected his second, before lock Hitoshi Ono grabbed a third as Japan rushed to a 47-6 lead with only 12 minutes of the second half gone.
Two more tries in the last quarter from winger Hirotoki Onozawa and Tanaka, who fittingly capped off a memorable display, gave Japan a comfortable victory.
"We were looking for continuity and putting systems in place. In defence we wanted to make sure our line wasn't breached and in attack we wanted to make sure what system to use and at times it worked." Kirwan added.
Hong Kong head coach Dai Rees said the match had highlighted the difference between full-time professionals - Japan - and amateur players.
"I was pleased for 60 minutes. But this is international rugby and you can't drop off for 20 minutes and not expect Japan to score against you," Rees said. "What we saw today was a professional team against an amateur side. That was the difference between us."
Japan have a bye next weekend while Hong Kong are away to South Korea.
JAPAN 59: (Tries - Kensuke Hatakeyama (2), Naoki Kawamata, Hitoshi Ono, Yoshitaka Nakayama, Takashi Kikutani, Fumiaki Tanaka, Hirotoki Onozawa, Jack Tarrant; Conversions - Ryan Nicholas (7)
HONG KONG 6 (Penalties - Kenzo Pannell two)
H-T: 26-6Attendance: 3,129 |
|
more here ... |
|
|
