Japan Secures Third Place at World Rugby U20 Trophy 2024

Japan’s U20 team returned home this week after securing third place at World Rugby’s U20 Trophy 2024 in Edinburgh, Scotland. While it was a credible showing by the team, winning three of their four matches, with an overall +176 positive points difference, they leave Scotland dissatisfied at not having reached their goal of winning the tournament.

Japan came into the competition rightly confident following their clean sweep of victories in this year’s Pacific Challenge Tournament in Samoa. While they comfortably dispatched Hong Kong China 105-20 and Samoa 81-7 in their first two matches, their final Pool A match against hosts Scotland was always going to provide their toughest challenge.

Scotland represented a big step up from the teams Japan had faced throughout their season. In front of their home fans, they dominated from the outset, disrupting Japan’s set piece and stifling their attack, leaving the visitors starved of possession and wearing down the Japanese defence through their constant attacking play that grew in confidence as the game went on.

Japan’s never-say-die attitude was rewarded in the last ten minutes when they finally scored their first points of the match via two unconverted tries. However, it was too little, too late and Scotland ran out comfortable winners, 46-10. The loss meant that Japan would face Uruguay in the third-place play-off, while Scotland would take on the USA who had also gone undefeated through their pool matches.

Looking to make amends for their loss to Scotland and wanting to finish the tournament on a high note, Japan once again found their earlier form to put in a dominant 75-22 performance against their South American opponents. In the final, hosts Scotland defeated the USA 48-10 to win the tournament trophy and earn promotion to next year’s U20 Championship.

While Japan’s strong win over Uruguay was a positive way to end the tournament, the team will have been disappointed to have missed out on promotion back into the top-tier U20 Championship.

Commenting after their final match, Naoya Okubo, Japan U20 Team Head Coach said:

“Losing to Scotland was hugely disappointing for the team, but it was great to see the players move on from that and play the way they did today. Against Scotland we couldn’t establish any rhythm in our attack due to the pressure they put us under. We have to work hard to hone our basic skills and improve our physicality so that we can play accurately under pressure. However, I always say to the players that there is no failure. We are always learning and growing to become better.”