RUGBY IN JAPAN NEWSLETTER: Vol.10, No.29

Congratulations RIJ Newsletter 10th Anniversary 2003-2013

Japan continue on their winning way with a gritty 16-13 win over Canada in the wet in Nagoya.

Ian McDonnell lives and works in Japan. He can be contacted at ianmcdo@apost.plala.or.jp

CONTENTS

• IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens

28-30 June 2013

Moscow, Russia

The 6^th IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013:

The IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 was held at The Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow in Russia from Friday 28 to Sunday 30 June 2013.

Twenty-four nations took part in the men’s RWC which was the sixth world tournament since its inception in 1993. Meanwhile, 16 nations competed in the second women’s RWC.

In the final, New Zealand defeated England 30-0 to take out the sixth IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 title.

For Japan it was not such a happy ending with losses to South Africa and Scotland and a draw with hosts Russia in their Pool B games. Japan went down 19-17 to Scotland on the opening day and then lost 33-0 to South Africa and drew 12-all with Russia on the middle day of the tournament. Japan finished third in their pool and this put them into the Bowl quarterfinals on the last day of play. Japan beat the Philippines 50-0 to progress to the semi-finals where they beat Georgia 24-21 to make it to the Bowl final to once again face Russia. After playing out a draw in their pool encounter, Russia had too much left in the tank to take the final 29-5.

Rugby World Cup Sevens Champions:

2013: New Zealand.
2009: Wales.
2005: Fiji.
2001: New Zealand.
1997: Fiji.
1993: England.

Men’s Teams:

The twenty-four participating teams were: Fiji, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Australia, France, Scotland, Argentina, Uruguay, Portugal, Wales, Georgia, Samoa, Tonga, Japan, Hong Kong, USA, Canada, Kenya, Russia, the Philippines, Spain, Zimbabwe and Tunisia.

Men’s Pools:
The twenty-four teams were divided into six pools of four teams as follows. 

A	B	C	D	E	F
Australia	South Africa	Kenya	New Zealand	Wales	England
France	Scotland	Samoa	Canada	Fiji	Argentina
Tunisia	Japan	Zimbabwe	USA	Tonga	Portugal
Spain	Russia	Philippines	Georgia	Uruguay	Hong Kong

The Japan Sevens Squad

	Name	Club	DOB	Age	Hgt/Wgt
1	Lote TUQIRI	Hokkaido Barbarians	12/11/1987	25	188/98
2	Yusaku KUWAZURU	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	23/10/1985	27	188/97
3	Lepuha LATUILA	Kintetsu Liners	19/01/1985	28	189/109
4	Opeti FAEAMANI	Fukuoka Sanix Blues	08/02/1989	24	182/99
5	Daisuke NATSUI	Toshiba Brave Lupus	27/10/1988	24	188/87
6	Katsuyuki SAKAI (c)	Toyota Industries Shuttles	07/09/1988	24	172/88
7	Shuetsu NARITA	Suntory Sungoliath	29/08/1984	28	169/68
8	Shohei TOYOSHIMA	Toshiba Brave Lupus	09/01/1989	24	173/85
9	Kosuke HASHINO	Canon Eagles	20/11/1987	25	176/83
10	Shota EMI	Gakushuin University	08/12/1991	21	181/94
11	Seiyu KOHARA	Tokai University	28/08/1992	20	183/87
12	Kazushi HANO	Chuo University	21/06/1991	22	183/80

Team Director: Osamu Ota.
Head Coach: Tomohiro Segawa.

Pool B Games for Japan

Day 1: Friday, 28 June 2013

(19:36) – Scotland 19 d Japan 17

Japan: 2- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 5- Daisuke Natsui, 3- Lepuha Latuila, 8- Shohei Toyoshima, 6- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 1- Lote Tuqiri, 12- Kazushi Hano.
Reserves: 4- Opeti Faeamani, 7- Shuetsu Narita, 9- Kosuke Hashino, 10- Shota Emi, 11- Seiyu Kohara.

 Japan Scorers: Tries: Lote Tuqiri, Shota Emi and Kosuke Hashino; Conversion: Katsuyuki Sakai.

In their opening match against Scotland, Japan recovered from a 12-0 deficit at halftime that then became 19-0 inside the first minute of the latter half with tries to Lote Tuqiri, Shota Emi and Kosuke Hashino. However, captain Katsuyuki Sakai was only able to convert one of the three tries leaving the Scots to sneak home by two points on the back of the two conversions from Colin Gregor. To perfectly sum up the result, Sakai said post-match, “That’s Sevens!”

Day 2: Saturday, 29 June 2013

(12:40) – South Africa 33 d Japan 0

Japan: 2- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 10- Shota Emi, 3- Lepuha Latuila, 8- Shohei Toyoshima, 6- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 1- Lote Tuqiri, 11- Seiyu Kohara.
Reserves: 4- Opeti Faeamani, 5- Daisuke Natsui, 7- Shuetsu Narita, 9- Kosuke Hashino, 12- Kazushi Hano.

Japan Scorers: None.

In their first match on the middle day of the tournament, Japan had to face the might of South Africa in their second Pool B game. The South Africans were in total control of proceedings from beginning to end running in five tries with Branco du Preez and Cheslin Kolbe slotting four conversion between them. Japan were unable to make any impact on the scoreboard as they suffered their second pool loss in a row.

(19:38) – Russia 12 drew with Japan 12

Japan: 2- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 5- Daisuke Natsui, 3- Lepuha Latuila, 7- Shuetsu Narita, 6- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 1- Lote Tuqiri, 11- Seiyu Kohara.
Reserves: 4- Opeti Faeamani, 8- Shohei Toyoshima, 9- Kosuke Hashino, 10- Shota Emi, 12- Kazushi Hano.

Japan Scorers: Tries: Katsuyuki Sakai and Seiyu Kohara; Conversion: Katsuyuki Sakai.

In their third and final pool match, Japan took on tournament hosts Russia. Things were looking good as the Japanese built on a 5-0 halftime lead with Seiyu Kohara crossing the Russian whitewash with the Sakai conversion pushing out the score to 12-0. The hosts fought back though and when Alexsandr Ianiushkin failed to convert his own try late in the game it left things tied up at 12-all.

Lote Tuqiri touches down in Russia.

Bowl Knock-out Games for Japan

Day 3: Sunday, 30 June 2013

Bowl Quarterfinal (10:36) – Japan 50 d Philippines 0

Japan: 2- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 10- Shota Emi, 4- Opeti Faeamani, 9- Kosuke Hashino, 6- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 1- Lote Tuqiri, 12- Kazushi Hano.
Reserves: 3- Lepuha Latuila, 5- Daisuke Natsui, 7- Shuetsu Narita, 8- Shohei Toyoshima, 11- Seiyu Kohara.

Japan Scorers: Tries: Lote Tuqiri 2, Kosuke Hashino, Shota Emi, Katsuyuki Sakai, Shuetsu Narita 2 and Seiyu Kohara; Conversions: Katsuyuki Sakai 3, Kosuke Hashino 2.

Japan finished third in Pool B and this put them into the Bowl tournament at the knock-out stages of RWC 2013. Their first-up opponent in the quarterfinal was the Philippines with Japan taking the spoils to the tune of 50-0. The Japanese scored 26 points in the first half and backed that up with another 24 in the latter half with Lote Tuqiri and Shuetsu Narita both bagging two each of the total of eight tries. After the match, head coach Tomohiro Segawa said, “The boys were tired, but they knew that if they could beat the Philippines we would book a place in the semi-finals against Georgia and this was all the motivation they needed.”

Bowl Semi-final (14:50) – Japan 24 d Georgia 21

Japan: 2- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 10- Shota Emi, 3- Lepuha Latuila, 9- Kosuke Hashino, 6- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 1- Lote Tuqiri, 12- Kazushi Hano.
Reserves: 4- Opeti Faeamani, 5- Daisuke Natsui, 7- Shuetsu Narita, 8- Shohei Toyoshima, 11- Seiyu Kohara.

Japan Scorers: Tries: Lepuha Latuila, Shuetsu Narita and Seiyu Kohara; Conversions: Katsuyuki Sakai 3; Penalty: Katsuyuki Sakai.

Georgia got off to good start in their Bowl semi-final clash against Japan taking a 12-0 lead into the halftime turn around. However, discipline let the Georgians down in the second half with two sinbinnings enabling Japan to claw their way back into the game. Lepuha Latuila started the fight back with a try early in the half and this was followed by further five-pointers to Shuetsu Narita and Seiyu Kohara. However, the best was left till last and with the scores locked at 21-all captain Katsuyuki Sakai landed a late penalty to put Japan into the Bowl final. After the match, head coach Tomohiro Segawa said, “In the second half we introduced speedsters like Narita and we knew if we could speed up the pace of the game we would win.”

Bowl Final (18:55) – Russia 29 d Japan 5

Japan: 2- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 3- Lepuha Latuila, 4- Opeti Faeamani, 8- Shohei Toyoshima, 6- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 1- Lote Tuqiri, 12- Kazushi Hano.
Reserves: 5- Daisuke Natsui, 7- Shuetsu Narita, 9- Kosuke Hashino, 10- Shota Emi, 11- Seiyu Kohara.

Japan Scorers: Try: Lepuha Latuila.

Russia and Japan played out a 12-all draw earlier in the tournament in their Pool B encounter, but in the Bowl final it was a different story. The tournament hosts scored two tries to one in the first half to lead 10-5 at the break, but things opened up in the second half with three unanswered tries blowing out the final scoreline to 29-5. Alexsandr Ianiushkin was amongst the scorers with two tries and a conversion helping to close out the game for Russia. In the lead up to the match, head coach Tomohiro Segawa said, “Russia were going to have the full backing of their local home crowd and so we knew we had to put them under pressure and get out to an early lead.” Unfortunately though, the Russians were not to be beaten on their home turf and so Japan had to settle for runner-up status in the Bowl final.

 
Japan celebrate victory over Georgia in the Bowl semi-final.