England survive scare to beat Japan

Editor

England overcame a superb first half performance from Japan to score 25 unanswered points and claim a 35-15 triumph at Twickenham on Saturday.

The visitors were outstanding in the opening 40 minutes, deservedly going into the break ahead thanks to Ryoto Nakamura and Michael Leitch tries. In contrast, the Red Rose were slack and, despite Danny Care’s try and Elliot Daly’s penalty, the hosts struggled to control possession.

They did lift the intensity in the second period, though, and managed to regain their advantage via George Ford’s penalty and Mark Wilson’s score.

Japan were still in the contest going into the final quarter but Joe Cokanasiga and Dylan Hartley tries eased the tension around Twickenham.

Jamie Joseph’s men were dangerous with ball in hand against New Zealand two weeks ago and they showed plenty of those qualities in London. However, they were initially unable to break through the hosts’ defence and, after kicking the ball away, England launched an excellent counter-attack.

Elliot Daly found Cokanasiga and on debut the Fijian-born wing sprinted down the left before finding Jamie George, who in turn passed to Care to finish.

It was an excellent start for Eddie Jones’ revamped team but they began to concede penalties and that allowed the Brave Blossoms to pressurise the 22.

They were patient and created panic in the opposition rearguard, which eventually led to Yu Tamura reducing the arrears from the tee.

George was sin-binned following further ill-discipline and the visitors brilliantly took advantage, touching down via Nakamura, who barrelled through Alex Lozowski’s weak attempted tackle.

Joseph’s charges were playing some outstanding rugby and the Six Nations outfit were struggling to cope. Although Daly levelled matters with a penalty, Japan were enjoying themselves and Leitch scored a brilliant individual try, powering through Care before stepping Daly to superbly cross the whitewash.

The Japanese were manipulating England’s rearguard wonderfully and were unfortunate not to get over the line again in the first half, but the hosts held out until the interval.

Jones’ side looked to be far more direct in the second period but once more the tourists were relatively comfortable. Japan did, however, concede a penalty which allowed Ford to bring the home team to within two points before another infringement gave the Red Rose an attacking opportunity.

This time, the Brave Blossoms were regularly sent into reverse and, under pressure, a hole opened up and Wilson raced through to give England the lead.

The Red Rose were now in command of the contest and, after Ford had extended their buffer off the tee, Cokanasiga and Hartley sealed the victory late on with well-taken efforts.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries: Care, Wilson, Cokanasiga, Hartley
Cons: Ford 3
Pens: Daly, Ford 2
Yellow Card: George

For Japan:
Tries: Nakamura, Leitch
Con: Tamura
Pen: Tamura

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Jack Nowell, 12 Alex Lozowski, 11 Chris Ashton, 10 George Ford (c), 9 Danny Care, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Mark Wilson, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Jamie George, 1 Alec Hepburn
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Ted Hill, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Henry Slade

Japan: 15 William Tupou, 14 Akihito Yamada, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Kazuki Himeno, 7 Masakatsu Nishikawa, 6 Michael Leitch (c), 5 Uwe Helu, 4 Wimpie van der Walt, 3 Jiwon Koo, 2 Atsushi Sakate, 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements: 16 Yusuke Niwai, 17 Koki Yamamoto, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Samuela Anise, 20 Hendrik Tui, 21 Shunsuke Nunomaki, 22 Yutaka Nagare, 23 Rikiya Matsuda

Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Dan Jones (Wales)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)