JAPAN HELD FRANCE to a 23-23 draw in their final November international at U Arena in Paris on Saturday, with the hosts lucky to avoid a sixth straight defeat.
Jamie Joseph’s Japan dominated for much of the game and outscored their opponents by three tries to two, but fly-half Yu Tamura missed a simple late conversion that would have sealed a famous win.
“We are very happy with this tour, with a win (over Tonga) and a draw,” said former All Black Joseph.
“But we are disappointed with this draw, we thought we could win and you could see that in the way we played.”
In the first international at the newly-opened venue and its artificial pitch, Japan could have won the game after Asaeli Ai Valu crossed in the 74th minute, but Tamura let France and their coach Guy Noves off the hook.
“We are all disappointed because we played a catastrophic match,” French captain Guilhem Guirado said.
Noves had responded to last week’s 18-17 loss to South Africa, their 13th in just 21 matches under Noves, by replacing six of the backs that started that game, while flanker Sekou Macalou and wing Gabriel Lacroix were handed debuts.
“There’s a lot of work ahead of us and I feel like we’re losing confidence, which is having a major impact on our game,” admitted Noves.
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Joseph made just one alteration to his Japan team that beat Tonga 39-6, with Yutaka Nagare taking the place of Fumiaki Tanaka at scrum-half.
Japan started brightly, pushing France back, and struck first as fly-half Tamara slotted over a penalty.
After twice giving away possession with handling errors, France were forced into some fierce defence on their own line after an excellent break by Japan captain Michael Leitch, before breaking the shackles and levelling the scores through a long-range Francois Trinh-Duc penalty.
The hosts should have scored the opening try after a sweeping move that took them from one end of the pitch to the other, but Macalou fumbled at the line and the visiting defence held firm.
But Japan continued to be the better side and scored the opening try their enterprising play deserved when hooker Shota Horie dived over in the corner, although Tamura missed the tricky conversion.
The hosts almost hit back immediately, but Lacroix was unable to touch down before being bundled into touch, while the home crowd jeered in disgust when Trinh-Duc opted to kick a penalty for the posts instead of the corner as he cut the gap to two points.
With 90 seconds until the interval, the fly-half did kick a penalty for the corner, and it paid off, with sustained pressure leading to Clermont prop Slimani barrelling over.
Trinh-Duc added the extras to put a flat home side five points to the good at the interval.
- Japan fly out of the blocks -
But Japan flew out of the blocks in the second period, with centre Timothy Lafaele barging through the hapless France defence to touch down and Tamura’s simple conversion edged the tourists ahead.
A third Japanese try almost followed, but Kazuki Himeno was denied by a forward pass in the build-up.
France hit back again, though, with La Rochelle’s Lacroix scoring a debut try from a long cross-field kick by Trinh-Duc, who successfully converted.
Noves’ side were still spending most of the second half camped inside their own 22, but survived a flurry of Japan five-metre lineouts.
Japan were given a further boost when Lacroix was sin-binned for tackling Tamura in the air.
Tamura and Trinh-Duc traded penalties to leave the game still finely balanced heading into the final 10 minutes, and the Brave Blossoms finally grabbed their third try as replacement prop Ai Valu cleverly took the ball from a ruck to score.
But Tamura missed the simplest of conversions when he should have given Japan only a second win over a Tier-One nation, after their famous 34-32 victory against South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.
The42 has just published its first book, Behind The Lines, a collection of some of the year’s best sports stories. Pick up your copy in Eason’s, or order it here today (€10):
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Stuttering France held by impressive Japan
JAPAN HELD FRANCE to a 23-23 draw in their final November international at U Arena in Paris on Saturday, with the hosts lucky to avoid a sixth straight defeat.
Jamie Joseph’s Japan dominated for much of the game and outscored their opponents by three tries to two, but fly-half Yu Tamura missed a simple late conversion that would have sealed a famous win.
“We are very happy with this tour, with a win (over Tonga) and a draw,” said former All Black Joseph.
“But we are disappointed with this draw, we thought we could win and you could see that in the way we played.”
In the first international at the newly-opened venue and its artificial pitch, Japan could have won the game after Asaeli Ai Valu crossed in the 74th minute, but Tamura let France and their coach Guy Noves off the hook.
“We are all disappointed because we played a catastrophic match,” French captain Guilhem Guirado said.
Noves had responded to last week’s 18-17 loss to South Africa, their 13th in just 21 matches under Noves, by replacing six of the backs that started that game, while flanker Sekou Macalou and wing Gabriel Lacroix were handed debuts.
“There’s a lot of work ahead of us and I feel like we’re losing confidence, which is having a major impact on our game,” admitted Noves.
Joseph made just one alteration to his Japan team that beat Tonga 39-6, with Yutaka Nagare taking the place of Fumiaki Tanaka at scrum-half.
Japan started brightly, pushing France back, and struck first as fly-half Tamara slotted over a penalty.
After twice giving away possession with handling errors, France were forced into some fierce defence on their own line after an excellent break by Japan captain Michael Leitch, before breaking the shackles and levelling the scores through a long-range Francois Trinh-Duc penalty.
The hosts should have scored the opening try after a sweeping move that took them from one end of the pitch to the other, but Macalou fumbled at the line and the visiting defence held firm.
But Japan continued to be the better side and scored the opening try their enterprising play deserved when hooker Shota Horie dived over in the corner, although Tamura missed the tricky conversion.
The hosts almost hit back immediately, but Lacroix was unable to touch down before being bundled into touch, while the home crowd jeered in disgust when Trinh-Duc opted to kick a penalty for the posts instead of the corner as he cut the gap to two points.
With 90 seconds until the interval, the fly-half did kick a penalty for the corner, and it paid off, with sustained pressure leading to Clermont prop Slimani barrelling over.
Trinh-Duc added the extras to put a flat home side five points to the good at the interval.
- Japan fly out of the blocks -
But Japan flew out of the blocks in the second period, with centre Timothy Lafaele barging through the hapless France defence to touch down and Tamura’s simple conversion edged the tourists ahead.
A third Japanese try almost followed, but Kazuki Himeno was denied by a forward pass in the build-up.
France hit back again, though, with La Rochelle’s Lacroix scoring a debut try from a long cross-field kick by Trinh-Duc, who successfully converted.
Noves’ side were still spending most of the second half camped inside their own 22, but survived a flurry of Japan five-metre lineouts.
Japan were given a further boost when Lacroix was sin-binned for tackling Tamura in the air.
Tamura and Trinh-Duc traded penalties to leave the game still finely balanced heading into the final 10 minutes, and the Brave Blossoms finally grabbed their third try as replacement prop Ai Valu cleverly took the ball from a ruck to score.
But Tamura missed the simplest of conversions when he should have given Japan only a second win over a Tier-One nation, after their famous 34-32 victory against South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.
The42 has just published its first book, Behind The Lines, a collection of some of the year’s best sports stories. Pick up your copy in Eason’s, or order it here today (€10):
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Draw November internationals France Japan U Arena