Maori sneak late winner against Japan
New Zealand's Maori team left it late, but sneaked in at the death to record a 20-18 win over Japan in Tokyo on Saturday.
Down 15-18 with a minute left on the clock, flank Dan Pryor crashed over to save the Maori from defeat.
Japan trailed 5-15 at half-time, but scored 13 unanswered points in the second half to get within a sniff of victory.
The Maori All Blacks' winning streak has extended to 18 games. It started in 2003.
Kodie Taylor and Nehe Milner-Skudder scored tries earlier in the game for the Maori, while Ihaia West kicked a penalty and a conversion.
Japan then scored 13 unanswered points to get back in the game, with points coming from a Akihito Yamada try and a penalty try.
While Japan coach Eddie Jones looked guttted after watching victory snatched from his side in the last minute, he could at least console himself that it was a better performance from his charges than the 61-21 thrashing they received at the hands of the Maori a week earlier.
The scorers:
For Japan:
Tries: Yamada, Penalty try
Con: Goromaru
Pens: Goromaru 2
For Maori All Blacks:
Tries: Taylor, Milner-Skudder, Pryor
Con: West
Pen:West
Yellow card: Tom Franklin (New Zealand Maori, 8 – repeated infringements at the breakdown)
Teams:
Japan: 15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Karne Hesketh, 13 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Harumichi Tatekawa, 12 Male Sau, 11 Akihito Yamada, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Amanaki Lelei Mafi, 7 Michael Leitch, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Shinya Makabe, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Keita Inagaki.
Replacements: 16 Yusuke Nagae, 17 Hiroki Yuhara, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Hitoshi Ono, 20 Hayden Hopgood , 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Harumichi Tatekawa, 23 Ryohei Yamanaka.
New Zealand Maori: 15 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 14 Kurt Baker, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Charlie Ngatai (captain), 11 James Lowe, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Chris Smylie, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Sean Polwart, 6 Dan Pryor, 5 Blade Thomson, 4 Tom Franklin, 3 MIke Kainga, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Chris Eves
Replacements: 16 Joe Royal, 17 Brendon Edmonds, 18 Nick Barrett, 19 Hayden Triggs, 20 Mitch Crosswell, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Joe Webber
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce (England), James Leckie (Australia)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)
