RiJ looks at the Super Cup this week.

RiJ Vol.2 No.22

May 31, 2005

 

Rugby in Japan

 

Newsletter

 

Contents

 

• Super Cup
• Wed 25 May Canada 30 d USA 26
• Wed 25 May Japan 23 d Romania 16
• Sun 29 May USA 28 d Romania 22       
• FINAL: Sun 29 May Canada 15 d Japan 10
• The Rumour Mill
• On the Horizon

 

RiJ this week brings you the Super Cup. Canada, Romania & USA were in town to battle it out with Japan for this newly created title. Although the event is now in its third year, the previous name of Super Power Cup has been shortened to its present form. This year, in a repeat of last year?s final Canada made up for the disappointment of losing to Japan with a narrow 15-10 victory. The Canadians brought out quite an inexperienced side, but ended up out-playing their more fancied opponents. Congratulations Canada. Romania ended up losing both their games, but will learn from the experience should they return next year. Both the USA & host nation Japan had one win & one loss each. Due to space restraints RiJ has only covered the 2 Tests in which Japan took part.

 

The Super Cup

 

Wed 25 May 2005

National Stadium, Tokyo

4.30 PM ? Canada 30 d USA 26

 

Japan 23 d Romania 16

 

Kick-off 7PM 

Referee: Pierre Drolet (Canada)

Attendance: 3,000ish

Halftime: J3-R10

 

Japan 23 ? tries: Ohata (2); conversions: Morita (2); penalties: Morita (2); drop goals: Morita d.

Romania 16 ? tries: Sauan; conversions: Dumbrava; penalties: Dumbrava (2).

 

Japan

	Name	Club	Age	Hgt/wgt	Caps
1	Shigeyasu TAKAGI	Yamaha	29	180/108	3
2	Ken TSUKAGOSHI	Toshiba	27	178/95	6
3	Ryo YAMAMURA	Yamaha	23	185/108	17
4	Takanori KUMAGAE	NEC	26	193/103	11
5	Jamie WASHINGTON	–	30	197/108	5
6	Hare MAKIRI	Sanix	26	190/110	5
7	Yasunori WATANABE	Toshiba	30	192/104	24
8	Takuro MIUCHI (Capt.)	NEC	29	187/107	26
9	Takashi TSUJI	NEC	28	167/73	5
10	Kyohei MORITA	Hosei Uni	21	180/83	6
11	Hirotoki ONOZAWA	Suntory	27	180/82	26
12	Yukio MOTOKI	Kobe	33	177/88	76
13	Daisuke OHATA	Kobe	29	176/82	49
14	Hiroki MIZUNO	Toyota	23	170/75	4
15	Goshi TACHIKAWA	Toshiba	28	181/90	7
16	Masakazu NAKABAYASHI	Yamaha	26	178/102	3
17	Kenji KASAI	Toshiba	28	184/118	6
18	Ryota ASANO	NEC	25	184/97	8
19	Takeomi ITO	Kobe	34	185/92	60
20	Shota GOTO	Kobe	22	170/71	4
21	Katoni OTUKOLO	Saitama Tech Uni	22	186/98	2
22	Ayumu GOROMARU	Waseda Uni	19	184/81	2

Coach Mitsutake Hagimoto

 

Subs ? 16-4, 80 min

17-1, 76 min

18-6, 19 min

19-7, 64 min

20-9, 60 min

21 not used

22-15, 75 min

 

Romania

	Name	Club	Age	Hgt/wgt	Caps
1	Petrisor TODERASC	Oyonnax	25	185/116	33
2	Razvan MAVRODIN	Tarbes	32	178/100	39
3	Marcel SOCACIU	Rugby Rovigo	33	180/112	27
4	Cristian PETRE	Tarbes	26	195/113	20
5	Cornel TATU	Steaua Bucuresti	22	195/98	11
6	Florin CORODEANU	Grenoble	28	187/103	34
7	Marian TUDORI	Perigueux	26	196/103	16
8	Cosmin RATIU	Dinamo Bucuresti	25	196/107	2
9	Lucian SIRBU	Metro Racing	29	183/88	36
10	Darie CUREA	Steaua Bucuresti	23	182/94	4
11	Ioan TEODORESCU	Univ. Cluj	29	174/77	26
12	Gabriel BREZOIANU (Capt.)	Dax	28	173/94	37
13	Cristian SAUAN	Rovigo	31	182/94	23
14	Bogdan VOICU	Univ. Cluj	24	178/82	9
15	Dan DUMBRAVA	Steaua Bucuresti	24	186/84	22
16	Paulica ION	Steaua Bucuresti	22	185/105	5
17	Bogdan ZEBEGA	Steaua Bucuresti	21	184/107	10
18	Bogdan BALAN	Bordeaux Begles	25	185/104	8
19	George OPRISOR	Perpignan	29	194/107	7
20	Iulian ANDREI	Steaua Bucuresti	31	168/71	12
21	Ionut TOFAN	Metro Racing	28	179/72	48
22	Vasile GHIOC	Dinamo Bucuresti	27	181/82	24

Coach Daniel Santamans

 

This was the fourth meeting between these two countries with the slate now at two wins each. On their previous visit to Japan two games were played back-to-back in Tokyo in 1995. In the first meeting on 29 April Romania won 30-25 & in the return match on 3 May Japan won 34-21. The most recent encounter was on the Japan tour of Europe last November when the visitors went down to Romania 25-10 in Bucharest.

 

An interesting set of facts when comparing the two countries is that Japan has an overall population of 129 million, whereas Romania has about 22 million. Japan is listed as having 4,050 registered clubs compared with Romania?s 53. Japan has 130,476 registered players versus 4,500 for Romania. (Source: The Complete Record of International Rugby, Nobuhiko Otoma, Shinkosha, Tokyo, 2003). Of course many of the Romanian players have to play overseas to further their Rugby careers especially by playing in France, but on paper at least, these statistics for Japan are quite impressive.

 

This was an evenly fought contest in which Japan took revenge for the loss in Bucharest in November. The Japanese defence weathered the storm of the Romanian battering ram approach in the first 20 mins of the game conceding only the one try to outside centre Sauan, converted by fullback Dumbrava. In fact, this was to be the only try Romania scored in the match so it was a serious test of the Japanese frontline defences. Dumbrava kicked a penalty in the 30^th min to help Romania dominate the first half though they would have loved to have lead by a greater margin than the 10-3 halftime score. The only score for Japan in the first half was a drop goal to Morita in the 28^th min.

 

Japan started the second half with a penalty to Morita & then in the 53^rd min the Romanian defence stood off Ohata running with the ball in both hands only to watch him scoot under the posts for the first try to the CBs. Morita converted & Japan took the lead for the first time at 13-10. Both sides traded penalties till the score was locked at 16-all late in the game. Replacement Goromaru took a high ball & beat the rushing defence to set up play for the ball to move down the left wing where Onozawa managed to free his arms to offload for Ohata to score the match-winning try in the 76^th min. Japan held on to celebrate a 23-16 victory. Ohata scored both tries on the night & has now amazingly scored 12 tries in his 5 Tests this season. With 55 tries in 49 Tests he is fast closing in on the record of 64 Test tries in 101 Tests held by David Campese. 

 

Sun 29 May 2005

Chichibu Rugby Stadium, Tokyo

12.00 PM ? 3^rd place play-off (losers from Wed)

USA 28 d Romania 22

 

Final (winners from Wed)

Canada 15 d Japan 10

Kick-off 2.30PM 

Referee: Graeme Bullen (USA)

Attendance: 10, 000

Halftime: J3 ? C0

 

Canada 15  ? tries: Henderson, Van Camp; conversions: Daypuck; penalties: Daypuck. d.

Japan 10 ? tries: Otukolo; conversions: Morita; drop goals: Morita.

 

Japan

	Name	Club	Age	Hgt/wgt	Caps
1	Hiroshi TAKAHASHI	Toshiba	30	175/95	4
2	Ken TSUKAGOSHI	Toshiba	27	178/95	7
3	Ryo YAMAMURA	Yamaha	23	185/108	18
4	Takanori KUMAGAE	NEC	26	193/103	12
5	Jamie WASHINGTON	–	30	197/108	6
6	Ryota ASANO	NEC	25	184/97	8
7	Yasunori WATANABE	Toshiba	30	192/104	25
8	Takuro MIUCHI (Capt.)	NEC	29	187/107	27
9	Takashi TSUJI	NEC	28	167/73	6
10	Kyohei MORITA	Hosei Uni	21	180/83	7
11	Hirotoki ONOZAWA	Suntory	27	180/82	27
12	Yukio MOTOKI	Kobe	33	177/88	77
13	Daisuke OHATA	Kobe	29	176/82	50
14	Hiroki MIZUNO	Toyota	23	170/75	5
15	Ayumu GOROMARU	Waseda Uni	19	184/81	3
16	Masakazu NAKABAYASHI	Yamaha	26	178/102	3
17	Kenji KASAI	Toshiba	28	184/118	7
18	Tomoaki NAKAI	Toshiba	23	186/97	2
19	Takeomi ITO	Kobe	34	185/92	61
20	Shota GOTO	Kobe	22	170/71	5
21	Katoni OTUKOLO	Saitama Tech Uni	22	186/98	3
22	Goshi TACHIKAWA	Toshiba	28	181/90	8

Coach Mitsutake Hagimoto

 

Subs ? 16- not used

17-3, 69 min

18- not used

19-7, 64 min

20-9, 67 min

21-11, 80 min

22-15, 59 min

 

 

 

Canada

	Name	Club	Age	Hgt/wgt	Caps
1	Dan PLETCH	Oakville Crusaders	22	180/109	6
2	Aaron ABRAMS	Castaway Wanderers	25	183/108	11
3	Forrest GAINER	Dublin Uni (Ire)	26	180/111	8
4	Luke TAIT	Swansea-Heath (Wal)	23	199/105	2
5	Oliver ATKINSON	Velox Valhalians	24	199/109	1
6	Mike WEBB	Swilers	25	185/100	7
7	Mark LAWSON (Capt.)	Velox Valhalians	25	183/100	21
8	Stan McKEEN	Pacific Pride	23	191/103	9
9	Matt WEINGART	Pacific Pride	22	179/81	2
10	Ryan SMITH	Brampton Beavers	25	191/93	18
11	Brodie HENDERSON	Bay of Plenty (NZ)	21	185/99	1
12	Dean VAN CAMP	Aurora Barbarians	22	191/100	1
13	Matt KING	Balmy Beach	25	180/98	8
14	Quentin FYFFE	Calgary Irish	33	180/81	13
15	Derek DAYPUCK	Castaway Wanderers	27	183/93	6
16	Kevin TKACHUK	Glasgow Warriors (Sco)	28	180/115	31
17	Garth COOKE	Benevento (Ita)	28	178/108	20
18	Sean OLEARY	Meralomas	25	197/113	5
19	Aaron CARPENTER	Brantford Harlequins	21	183/104	2
20	Kevin PARFREY	Swilers	23	183/97	0
21	Pat FLECK	Meralomas	25	178/82	5
22	Ed FAIRHURST	Uni of Victoria	26	183/93	22

Coach Ric Suggitt

 

In a close fought final to the 2005 Super Cup Canada reversed the result of a year ago with a 15-10 victory over host Japan. In a tight first half fly half Morita missed with an early penalty for Japan but followed up with a drop goal in the 19^th min. Goromaru then missed with 2 long range penalty attempts, the first striking high up on the right hand post, but he showed his great potential for the future in doing so. RiJ has been singing his praises for some time, & now that he has made his debut, then his run on start in this Test predicts he will be one of the stars for Japan at RWC 2007. For Canada, left-footed fullback Daypuck missed with his only attempt at goal.

 

Early in the second half Daypuck also hit the post with a shot at penalty but landed his next attempt in the 52 min for Canada to draw level with Japan at 3-all. Daypuck missed another penalty not long after, but from the ensuing play Canada ran the ball down the left wing for Henderson to fend off his much smaller opposite Mizuno to score in the corner. Mizuno, at 170cms & 75kgs was giving away 15cms & 24kgs to his Canadian counterpart, raising the question as to whether he really has the size to be competitive at international level. To make up for earlier misses, Daypuck landed the conversion from the left hand touchline for Canada to take the lead for the first time at the hour mark of the match. At 10-3 down Japan needed to score twice & set about pressuring the Canadian defence. The Canadians held firm & Japan just could not secure the points they were after. Then, in the 77^th min Canadian centre Dean Van Camp out-sprinted the Japanese cover defence to the line to put the result beyond doubt for the plucky Canucks. With 3 mins of injury time & Japan still plugging away at the Canadian line Ohata, playing in his 50^th Test, managed to off-load to replacement Otukolo to score. Morita quickly converted from wide out with a drop goal but before there was time to re-start, South African born American Referee Graeme Bullen who had the distinction of making his Test debut, blew full time. Canada 15 defeated Japan 10.

 

The Rumour Mill

Newcastle Falcons (Eng) to tour Japan in August. Jonny Wilkinson is billed to come out with the team for 2 games, one against NEC at the National Stadium on Sat Aug 20 with a 7pm kick-off. The other game is against Toyota at their home base in Nagoya as part of the Expo events. This match is set for Tues May 23 at Toyota Stadium with a 7.30pm kick-off. Be there!

 

Word is leaking that Norm Maxwell has signed with Ricoh for next season. Not wanted/needed against the Lions? RiJ hopes Chris Jack stays healthy.

 

Another overseas born Japan Test player missing from the Super Cup. He copped a 2-match suspension as fall out from recent night clubbing in Roppongi.

 

On the Horizon

• Ireland tour to Japan 05
• Sun 12 June: Japan v Ireland, Nagai, Osaka
• Sun 19 June: Japan v Ireland, Chichibu, Tokyo