Japan 28-21 Scotland: Hosts produce scintillating rugby to reach World Cup quarter-finals
The fact that Japan made history, beating Scotland 28-21 to reach the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history, was remarkable enough.
But to do so on their own turf, in such style and in front of an adoring fan base just hours after the pain and destruction wreaked by Typhoon Hagibis was even more special.
Scotland’s build-up to the game was dominated by what would happen if the game didn’t go ahead.
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In the end it wasn’t the weather which knocked them out in the group stages for only the second time in their history, but an emotionally charged and high quality performance from the tournament’s hosts.
Japanese glory
Having spoken of taking legal action against World Rugby only to lose to the Tier Two nation for the first time in eight games, questions will be asked of Scotland’s squad, and in particular coach Gregor Townsend. They fell short of expectations and didn’t deserve to progress to the knockout clash with South Africa.
And yet, considering the devastating and all-consuming backdrop to the fixture and wider significance to the sport, today’s events in Yokohama were all about glory for Japan.
While Japan’s famous 34-32 victory over South Africa in the 2015 World Cup still holds its standing as the biggest upset in rugby union history, wins over Ireland and Scotland in their own tournament have underlined their status as a team on the rise.
Japan don’t play in the Six Nations. They don’t play in the Rugby Championship. But in the last fortnight they have beaten two established nations, finished top of Pool A with four successive wins and moved past France into seventh place in the world rankings.
“You can just look around and see how special a moment this is for our team and for this country,” said Japan coach Jamie Joseph. “I think the world has always respected Japan, but Japan have not always trusted themselves. Tonight we went up another level.”
Next level
The way they ascended to that level was certainly easy on the eye. Unlike some other so-called smaller nations, Japan don’t count on a physical forward pack as their biggest weapon.
Instead they rely on rapid ball from the ruck via excellent scrum-half Yutaka Nagare, ambitious and exciting running from just about every position and bold, inventive and skilful ball-handling from all 15 players.
Their four tries against Scotland were a brilliant display of that philosophy. Kotaro Matsushima benefited from Kenki Fukuoka’s pace and offloading ability to run in the first before Keita Inagaki touched down inside the posts following a run of three perfectly executed offloads.
Timothy Lafaele’s well-judged grubber kick on the run set up the lightning-quick Fukuoka to make it 21-7 before half-time and the winger’s rip and break minutes after the restart ensured Scotland would require a miraculous recovery to progress.
Scotland did mount a comeback through WP Nel and Zander Fagerson’s tries but Japan defended manfully to hold on and claim the chance to repeat their historic win over the South Africa four years ago when they face the Springboks on Sunday.
Main image credit: Getty Images