Wales snatch late win against Eddie Jones' Japan
MATCH REPORT: Jarrod Evans’s penalty with the last kick of the match gave Wales a 24-23 victory in their Nations Series Test over Japan on Saturday, denying the valiant visitors their first-ever win in Cardiff.
For Wales, it ended a run of 10 successive home defeats stretching back to 2023 and ensured that they stay above Japan in the world rankings, which means they remain in the second pot of seeds for the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
The manner in which the Welsh celebrated at the final whistle reflected how much the victory meant to them.
The Japanese will be kicking themselves as they had the better of the match – even outplaying the Welsh when the hosts had a two-man advantage in the first half – but poor handling and decision-making cost them dearly.
Flyhalf Dan Edwards had given the hosts the ideal start, breaking two Japanese tackles to go over in the sixth minute, converting the score for a 7-0 lead.
However, the Japanese were level on the quarter of an hour mark – an excellent passage of ball handling by the Japanese cut the dire Welsh defence to ribbons and led to Kippei Ishida going over in the right-hand corner.
Lee Seung-sin converted brilliantly from the touchline.
Japan, though, were down to 13 men just before the half-hour mark – lock Epineri Uluiviti sin-binned for taking out Alex Mann off the ball and a few minutes later, No.8 Faulua Makisi yellow-carded for making contact with Edwards’s head.
The hosts were unable to score a point with them off the pitch and finished a poor first-half on a suitably low note as experienced wing Josh Adams was sin-binned for an illegal clear out.
Adams’s yellow card was upgraded to a 20-minute red card and the Japanese edged ahead as Lee kicked a penalty in the 48th minute.
The Welsh, though, had more of a cutting edge when one man down than when they were two men up – Louis Rees-Zammit scoring his 15th try for his country after going over in the corner, with Edwards converting for 14-10.
Lee punished Welsh indiscipline with another penalty with 25 minutes remaining, and they went ahead as Makisi went over just as the clock ran down on the 20-minute red card.
Lee converted to give the visitors a six-point lead with just under 20 minutes remaining.
However, the hosts got their noses in front as Adams’s replacement Nick Tompkins touched down barely a minute after coming on, and Edwards converted for 21-20.
Lee added another penalty to push Japan back in front 23-21, but it would not be enough thanks to Evans’s cool head on the buzzer.
The scorers:
For Wales:
Tries: Edwards, Rees-Zammit, Tompkins
Cons: Edwards 3
Pen: Evans
For Japan:
Tries: Ishida, Makisi
Cons: Lee 2
Pens: Lee 3
Teams:
Wales: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Alex Mann, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Liam Belcher, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Taine Plumtree, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Nick Tompkins
Japan: 15 Yoshitaka Yazaki; 14 Kippei Ishida, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Charlie Lawrence, 11 Tomoki Osada; 10 Seungsin Lee, 9 Naoto Saito; 8 Faulua Makisi, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 6 Jack Cornelsen; 5 Warner Deans (captain), 4 Epineri Uluiviti; 3 Keijiro Tamefusa, 2 Kenji Sato, 1 Kenta Kobayashi
Replacements: 16 Shodai Hirao, 17 Sho Furuhata, 18 Shuhei Takeuchi, 19 Harry Hockings, 20 Tyler Paul, 21 Kenta Fukuda, 22 Shinya Komura, 23 Kazuma Ueda
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Anthony Woodthorpe (England)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
