Roundup: Japan vs Samoa

A roundup of Japan's test against Samoa (or really Samoa A), which saw them get useful match practice ahead of the games in June.

  Japan (20) 33

   Samoa (7) 14

Last year Japan headed into the PNC off the back of a series of cricket scores in the Asian 5 Nations, their last match before playing Tonga was a 93-3 win over the UAE. Whilst Japan had big advantages in terms of cohesion and time together, it was arguably neutered by the fact Tonga came from playing much tougher rugby and more match ready. Japan started the year really slowly against the Pacific Islanders and the Tonga game was lost in the first 25 minutes.

In order to try and avoid a repeat, this year Japan organised a warm up fixture with Samoa to get the players better adjusted to the physicality required at a higher level.

It was not remotely near a full strength Samoa side though. The game was played outside the IRB release window and over the half the team were on debut and hardly any of the team will be featuring much in June. The team was really just the Samoa "A" team that has been playing in the Pacific Rugby Cup, which considering perhaps the game shouldn't have been fully capped. But seeing as it was, it's allowed Japan (who by contrast were only missing their 3 Super Rugby players) to rise up the meaningless IRB rankings fraudulently and tout a national record 7 match winning streak achieved solely against poor sides.

The game wasn't one of Japan's greatest performances. They were in pretty comfortable control of most of the match, but just like the infuriating Russia game last November numerous handling errors out wide meant they left several "tries on the field" as coach Eddie Jones put it (thankfully for them Samoa's handling was just as bad on a dewy night). They also conceded a couple of soft tries, even  though the defence in the whole was pretty good.

If Japan repeat this performance against a better side they will lose, simple. However having said that, they ultimately got what they wanted out of it, a good physical workout to warm up for the next few games. Whilst Samoa's squad was not the most talented they've ever fielded, they still are big physical guys who you need to front up against. Eddie Jones had a chance to test players with a 100kg+ lump running at them, like he wouldn't have last year.

Despite the soft tries, lack of clinical edge and not a particularly happy time at the breakdown with referee John Lacey penalising them often, there were still a few positives for Japan to take out the game. The scrum was operating with the confidence to keep the ball in and shunt the other side back, whereas before they have tended to just shift the ball out as quickly as possible. Other than the disappointing second try that was just a simple missed tackle from Shinya Makabe on Fautua Otto, the defence was pretty good. The back row was pretty physical, and the distributing of the 10/12 combination of Tatekawa and Tamura was a delight to watch.

One interesting particularly interesting thing for Japan though was the test of 21 year old youngster Kotaro Matsushima at 13. Usually a winger, he was experimented there in the absence of the Melbourne Rebels Male Sa'u. It was a step up from the Asian 5 Nations and Matsushima looked to have some zip about him and was promising, he had an impressive step playing a part in 2 tries, but also was quite technically sound in the defensive areas. Sa'u will probably start when available, but Matsushima may have earned at least a bench spot in the team.

For Samoa the match was billed as a chance for some new players to put their hand up for selection for the proper team that will play matches later this month. It's doubtful many did, the punt kicking was not the best nor was the handling and backs such as captain Anitele'a Tuilagi was easily negated by Japan. One special mention to a player who won't have impressed the coaches though goes to Maselino Paulino, one of the more experienced players in the side having made his debut in 2008, he wrecked one of Samoa's best attacking chances with a crazy charge into a ruck. Not only did it waste an attack 5 metres from the line, but saw him sin binned and Japan took advantage of that advantage scoring 7 points during it.

Japan: 15 A Goromaru; 14 Y Fujita, 13 K Matsushima, 12 Y Tamura (R Nakamura 77), 11 A Yamada; 10 H Tatekawa, 9 A Hiwasa; 1 M Mikami (H Hirashima 67), 2 T Kizu (H Yuhara 74), 3 K Hatakeyama (H Yamashita 77); 4 H Ono (S Ito 67), 5 S Makabe (L Thompson 49); 6 H Tui, 7 M Leitch (c, J Ives 72), 8 R Holani.
Tries (3): Fujita (11, 25), Matsushima (70) Conversions (3): Goromaru (12, 26, 71) Penalties (3): Goromaru (15, 40, 41, 67) Sin Bin: Thompson (52)

Samoa: 15 T Tulolo; 14 F Otto, 13 B Va'aulu (K Thomsen 77), 12 A Tuilagi (c, M Megele 67), 11 R Levasa; 10 P Fa'apale (V Simanu 73), 9 V Afemai; 1 A Sio, 2 A Williams (R Lafo 77), 3 J Grey (S Aiono 72); 4 F Lemalu, 5 M Paulino; 6 F Selesele, 7 O Fa'afou (L Lolo 67), 8 M Timoteo (M Leiataua 29).
Tries (2): Otto (6), Va'aulu (42) Conversions (2): Fa'apale (7, 42) Sin Bin: Paulino (17)

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland) | Venue: Chichibunomiya Stadium, Tokyo | Attendance: 8,460