Japan blow Elephants away

NAGOYA (May 10) – Japan recorded their third highest score and third biggest winning margin in test match rugby Saturday as they beat Sri Lanka 132-10 in the Asian 5 Nations.

To add to the record breaking day at Mizuho Rugby Ground, Ayumu Goromaru added the extras to 16 of Japan’s 20 tries to set a new Japan record for the number of conversions in an international.

The victory sees Japan record their 26th straight bonus-point win in the A5N and keeps them on course to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2015.

The winner of this year’s tournament automatically qualifies for next year’s World Cup in England, while the runners-up enter the repechage, where they will take on Uruguay in the first round.

Japan, who led 68-0 at halftime, now have two wins from as many games and are second in the standings behind Hong Kong, who beat South Korea 39-6 for their third victory.

Japan play South Korea in Incheon next week before they wrap up the tournament against Hong Kong in Tokyo on May 25 at Tokyo’s National Stadium, the last game at the ground before it is demolished and a new stadium built in time for Rugby World Cup 2019.

In addition to Goromaru’s 37 points – the fullback also crossed late in the second half – Takeshi Kizu and captain Michael Leitch both picked up a hat-trick of tries, while there were also braces for Akihito Yamada, Hendrik Tui and Ryu Koliniasi Holani.

Hitoshi Ono marked becoming Japan’s second most capped player with a try and there were also five-pointers from Yasuki Hayashi, Yoshikazu Fujita, Yusuke Yuhara, Kotaro Matsushima, Kyosuke Horie and Daishi Murata.

Sri Lanka’s try came from Fazil Marijah with Rizah Mubarek adding a conversion and a penalty goal.