World Rugby U20 Trophy 2019: Japan U20 Win Second Pool Game
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.
| Pool A | Pool B |
| Japan | Tonga |
| Kenya | Portugal |
| Uruguay | Hong Kong |
| Canada | Brazil |
Japan U20 46 d Uruguay U20 31
Date: Saturday, 13 July 2019
Venue: Estadio Martins Pereira, Sao Jose dos Campos
Kick-off: 14:00 (+1, 02:00 JST)
Halftime: Japan U20 26 – Uruguay U20 14
In their second game at the 2019 World Rugby Under-20 Trophy in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, Japan Under-20 beat Uruguay Under-20 46-31. In their opening match last Tuesday, Japan Under-20 beat hosts Brazil Under-20 56-24.
Uruguay opened the scoring with a converted try to Aguiar Barrios, but Japan responded with tries to hooker Mamoru Harada, halfback Kaisei Tamura and a brace to flanker Halatoa Vailea to open up a 26-7 lead late in the opening stanza. Uruguay closed the half with a second converted try to Aguiar Barrios to take the sides to the break with Japan leading 26-14. Captain Shota Fukui crossed the Uruguay whitewash twice in the opening five minutes of the second half to push the score out to 40-14. The South Americans gradually closed the gap with tries to wing Amaya and flanker Sonneveld Malleret but two late penalties from the boot of playmaker Ryuto Fukuyama put the result beyond doubt.
Japan U20 46 – Tries: Shota Fukui 2, Halatoa Vailea 2, Mamoru Harada and Kaisei Tamura; Conversions: Ryuto Fukuyama 5; Penalties: Ryuto Fukuyama 2 d.
Uruguay U20 31 – Tries: Sonneveld Malleret, Amaya, Gruss Sudy and Aguiar Barrios 2; Conversions: D’Avanzo Ferres 3.
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- Taihei Kusaka, 13- Tomoki Osada, 14- Yuichiro Wada and 15- Ryosuke Kawase. Reserves: 16- Daiki Nishiyama, 17- Gun Tajima, 18- Shohei Tsujimura, 19- Terutaka Oka, 20- Koki Matsumoto, 21- Akito Okui, 22- Hayato Fukunishi, 23- Ryota Tomoike, 24- Takumi Aoki, 25- Moeki Fukushi and 26- Keita Inayoshi. Coach: Yoshitake Mizuma.
NB: Teams are allowed to list eleven reserves but only eight can be used.