Maori ABs hammer Brave Blossoms
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The Maori All Blacks put on a counter-attacking masterclass to hammer a brave but error-prone Japan side 61-21 at Noevir Stadium in Kobe on Saturday.
Blues flyhalf Ihaia West and Jason Emery were the heroes for the touring Maori All Blacks.
Played in front of an enthusiastic audience, the tourists were simply too strong but were impressively guided around the park by West, who ended up collecting 26 points with a try and nine successful kicks.
Emery grabbed a double, among eight tries scored by Colin Cooper’s side in total.
While the Maori All Blacks were inexperienced with ten new caps, the team has been picked with a fair amount of form amongst the playing group, and it showed.
Charlie Ngatai, Blade Thomson, Ash Dixon and Tom Franklin were willing ball carriers against Japan, who lost their first international match in 11 fixtures.
The Brave Blossoms scored three tries, two of which were awarded by the referee underneath the posts after repeat infringements from the visitors, while Lelei Mafi also got on the board for Eddie Jones’ team in one of the few breakouts of the game.
With a rolling maul and forward moving scrum earning the penalty tries for Japan, the Maori All Blacks will still have plenty to work on despite the impressive forty-point triumph.
The key difference between the sides was the intensity of the hit, with the Japanese clearly trying some tricks early, but all the looping plays and shifted angles mean't little as the player starting the movement was often under pressure.
As the home team tried to spread it wide, the growing number of turnovers and superior set piece allowed the Maori All Blacks to put air on the ball constantly.
Chris Eves scored the game’s first try, coming off a turnover after Japan astounded by contributing minimal numbers to the ruck, while Franklin eagerly picked up to commence the phases.
It was 35-7 at halftime, and the Maori All Blacks if anything lifted the intensity in the second half.
The long range tries from turnovers showed the cohesion as the side played an up tempo game, while up front they were dominant in the air and were rarely threatened by the Japanese jackals, who simply couldn’t get their hand on the ball.
The side has now won 17 straight games.
Joe Royal replaced Brendon Edmonds earlier today in the reserves and it appears initially as if the travelling side emerged from the contest without any injury concerns.
Cooper will name his team late next week, as the two sides gear up for a second game in Tokyo.
Scorers
For Japan:
Tries: Penalty try 2, Lelei Mafi
Cons: Goromaru 3
For NZ Maori:
Tries: Eves, Emery 2, Polwart, West, Milner-Skudder, Ngatai, Lowe
Cons: West 6
Pens: West 3
Yellow card: McKenzie (Maori All Blacks)
Teams:
Japan:15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Harumichi Tatekawa, 12 Male Sau, 11 Akihito Yamada, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Hayden Hopgood, 7 Michael Leitch, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Shoji Ito, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Masataka Mikami.
Replacements: 16 Keita Inagaki, 17 Hiroki Yuhara, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Shinya Makabe, 20 Amanaki Lelei Mafi, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Kosei Ono, 23 Karne Hesketh.
New Zealand Maori: 15 Robbie Robinson, 14 Matt Proctor, 13 Jason Emery, 12 Charlie Ngatai (captain) 11 James Lowe, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Chris Smylie, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Sean Polwart, 6 Blade Thomson, 5 Hayden Triggs, 4 Tom Franklin, 3 Mike Kainga, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Chris Eves.
Replacements: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Brendon Edmonds, 18 Nick Barrett, 19 Nick Crosswell, 20 Dan Pryor, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Nehe Milner-Skudder.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Angus Gardne (Australia), James Leckie (Australia)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)
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