Goromaru guides Japan to victory
Japan Fullback Ayumu Goromaru scored all the points to lead Asian champions Japan to a 16-13 victory over Canada in the Pacific Nations Cup rugby tournament in Nagoya on Wednesday.
It was Japan's first win in the five-nation tournament after two defeats, leaving the title hopes to Canada on 12 points, Fiji on 11 points and Tonga on 10 points.
After fullback James Pritchard kicked a penalty goal in the third minute, neither could score a point with Goromaru missing one penalty for Japan and centre Ciaran Hearn missing another for Canada.
The Japanese, fresh from their historic first victory over Wales last week, repeatedly threatened the Canadians but each time they were denied right up yo the end of the first-half and Canada lead 3-0 at the break.
Japan finally evened the score after the break when Goromaru cashed in on an easy penalty in front of the Canadian posts in the 45th minute. He added another penalty goal to give Japan a 6-3 lead in the 51st minute.
The Japanese advantage was broken as the visitors connected passes through flank Nanyak Dala, centre Nick Blevins and scrumhalf Sean White before Hearn completed by diving between the posts two minutes later for 8-6. Pritchard converted the try and took the Canadian lead out to 10-6.
Local spectators were delighted when Goromaru touched down in the 62nd minute and he himself converted it for 13-10 before Pritchard evened with a penalty.
Japan again took a 16-13 lead with Goromaru's penalty in the 72nd minute.
On the final day in Tokyo, Fiji will play Tonga and Japan will play the United States.
The scorers:
For Japan:
Try: Goromaru
Con: Goromaru
Pens: Goromaru 3
For Canada:
Try: Hearn
Con: Pritchard
Pens: Pritchard 2
Teams:
Japan: 15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Toshiaki Hirose (Captain), 13 Male Sau, 12 Craig Wing, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Takashi Kikutani, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Shinya Makabe, 4 Justin Ives, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Yusuke Nagae.
Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Hitoshi Ono, 20 Shoji Ito, 21 Atsushi Hiwasa, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Yoshikazu Fujita.
Canada: 15 James Pritchard, 14 Connor Braid, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Liam Underwood, 9 Sean White, 8 Aaron Carpenter (Captain), 7 Nanyak Dala, 6 Tyler Ardron, 5 Brett Beukeboom, 4 Jon Phelan, 3 Jason Marshall, 2 Ryan Hamilton, 1 Hubert Buydens.
Replacements: 16 Ray Barkwill, 17 Tom Dolezel, 18 Andrew Tiedemann, 19 Cam Pierce, 20 Aaron Flagg, 21 Eric Wilson,22 Mike Fuailefau, 23 Pat Parfrey.
