World Rugby U20 Trophy 2019: Japan Under-20 Open Trophy Tournament with a Win
The 2019 World Rugby Under-20 Trophy is being held at the Estadio Martins Pereira in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil from 9-21 July 2019.
Eight teams are participating in the tournament including hosts Brazil and Japan, who were relegated from the 2018 World Rugby Under-20 Championship. The six other countries that qualified through regional qualifiers are Hong Kong (Asia), Kenya (Africa), Uruguay (South America), Canada (North America), Portugal (Europe) and Tonga (Oceania).
The winner of the tournament gains promotion to the 2020 World Rugby Under-20 Championship.
Japan U20 56 d Brazil U20 24
Date: Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Venue: Estadio Martins Pereira, Sao Jose dos Campos
Kick-off: 14:00 (+1, 02:00 JST)
Halftime: Japan U20 27 – Brazil U20 10
Japan Under-20 opened their account at the 2019 World Rugby Under-20 Trophy in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil with an impressive 56-24 win over hosts Brazil Under-20.
Japan scored eight tries to three in the win and always seemed to have the game under control. A try to captain and flanker Shota Fukui, a brace to left wing Futo Yamaguchi and a further five pointer to number eight Takamasa Maruo helped the Japanese side out to a 27-10 lead at the break, and from there they never looked in doubt. In the second half, a penalty try was followed by a spree of tries scored through Fukui, flanker Halatoa Vailea and right wing Moeki Fukushi. Brazil put up a gallant performance in the loss, however, with hooker Leonardo De Souza Da Silva, lock Fillippo Domenech Bugno and replacement Geronimo Olivares scoring tries for the home side.
Japan U20 56 – Tries: Shota Fukui 2, Halatoa Vailea, Takamasa Maruo, Moeki Fukushi, Futo Yamaguchi 2, and penalty try; Conversions: Ryuto Fukuyama 2 and Takumi Aoki 2; Penalties: Ryuto Fukuyama and Takumi Aoki d.
Brazil U20 24 – Tries: Leonardo De Souza Da Silva, Fillippo Domenech Bugno and Geronimo Olivares; Conversions: Lucas Ferrer Spago 2 and Carlos Rafael Aparecido De Souza; Penalty: Lucas Ferrer Spago.
Japan U20s: 1- Yota Kamimori, 2- Mamoru Harada, 3- Sho Maeda, 4- Shu Yamamoto, 5- Ryusei Koike, 6- Halatoa Vailea, 7- Shota Fukui (c), 8- Takamasa Maruo, 9- Kaisei Tamura, 10- Ryuto Fukuyama, 11- Futo Yamaguchi, 12- Yuichiro Wada, 13- Tomoki Osada, 14- Moeki Fukushi and 15- Ryosuke Kawase. Reserves: 16- Daiki Nishiyama, 17- Gun Tajima, 18- Shohei Tsujimura, 19- Ogi Yanamoto, 20- Koki Matsumoto, 21- Akito Okui, 22- Hayato Fukunishi, 23- Ryota Tomoike and 24- Takumi Aoki. Coach: Yoshitake Mizuma.
NB: Teams are allowed to list eleven reserves but only eight can be used.