![LV= Cup [Anglo-Welsh]](images/LV Cup 2011 SB.jpg)
JAPAN 6 - 54 NEW ZEALAND
Prince Chichibu Stadium - Saturday 02 November 2013
KO: 14:30 HT: 6-28 Att: tbc
THE Cherry Blossoms took on the All Blacks for just the third time in history and recorded their lowest score against the World Champions, but also managed to the visitors’ winning margin to less than 50 for the first time, a huge improvement on the 128 and 76-point previous defeats.
Playing the New Zealanders at home for the first time at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo, Japan began their campaign a significant man down with coach Eddie Jones having suffered a stroke last month. The visitors, meanwhile, had nine of their players bypass Tokyo completely and sent them directly to Paris to warm up for next week’s ominous encounter against Les Bleus, blooding two new starting caps in the land of the rising sun; Frank Halai on the wing and 6’9” towering Dominic Bird at lock, along with Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen and Luke Whitelock on the bench.
After the opening ritual of the Ka Mate haka, it took the All Blacks just nine minutes to begin their 8-try fest, the first coming from Charles Piutau, converted by Dan Carter. The Cherry Blossoms replied with the only two penalties they would muster from Ayumu Goromaru to end the opening quarter, 6-7.
Half an hour in, while Japan lost fly half Harumichi Tatekawa to a shoulder injury, Sam Cane, Ben Smith and captain Richie McCaw all crossed the whitewash, Carter converting two of the three tries. The last ten minutes of the half, Japan finally enjoyed some possession and even ventured into the All Blacks 22, but two minutes to go and the men in black turned it over, pausing the game at 6-28.
The Japanese stopped Pitau from scoring a second early on in the second half, but good setpiece work from McCaw allowed Jeremy Thrush to begin the All Blacks onslaught again. There was a last conversion from Carter before he was tactically subbed for Tom Taylor, Beauden Barrett taking over kicking duties.
The Cherry Blossoms’ defence held Thrush from scoring again, but Halai, again fed by McCaw, made his try-scoring debut, though Barrett missed the conversion.
The homeside showed great strength of character in defence, despite the dank conditions, but Barrett soon found the tryline himself, converting to bring the score to 47-6 with 12 minutes remaining.
Following a constant stream of replacements, Japan strung together an impressive 13 phases but a knock on handed over possession to the All Blacks for their weighty scrum. A knock on from Sam Whitelock reversed the scrum but another turnover, and Francis Saili kick chased the ball enough for Pitau to get his brace, diving the ball to score the last try of the match. A conversion from Barrett brought the final score to 54-6 with five minutes remaining.
The end of the game approached and Japan would not give up, forsaking two penalty kicks at the uprights to find that elusive try. A last penalty was given after Cane was binned in the 80th minute, and the resulting corner grounding was referred up to the TMO for confirmation. But the consolation try for Japan was denied as an arm found touch before the ball and the game was up.
15 Ayumu Goromaru 14 TOSHIAKI HIROSE (C) 13 Male Sa'u 12 Craig Wing 11 Kenki Fukuoka 10 Harumichi Tatekawa 9 Fumiaki Tanaka 1 Masataka Mikami 2 Shota Horie 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama 4 Shoji Ito 5 Hitoshi Ono 6 Hendrik Tui 7 Michael Broadhurst 8 Koliniashi Holani BENCH: 16 Yusuke Aoki 17 Yusuke Nagae 18 Hiroshi Yamashita 19 Luke Thompson 20 Takashi Kikutani 21 Kousei Ono 22 Yuu Tamura 23 Yoshikazu Fujita
SCORERS P: Goromaru (2)
15 Beauden Barrett 14 Charles Piutau 13 Ben Smith 12 Francis Saili 11 Frank Halai 10 Daniel Carter 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow 1 Wyatt Crockett 2 Dane Coles 3 Ben Franks 4 Jeremy Thrush 5 Dominic Bird 6 Steven Luatua 7 Sam Cane 8 RICHIE MCCAW (C) BENCH: 16 Andrew Hore 17 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen 18 Charlie Faumuina 19 Brodie Retallick 20 Luke Whitelock 21 Aaron Smith 22 Tom Taylor 23 Ryan Crotty
SCORERS T: Pitau (2), Cane, Ben Smith, McCaw, Thrush, Halai, Barrett C: Carter (5), Barrett (2) YC Cane
Referee: Stuart Berry (SARU) Asst Referees: Angus Gardner (ARU), Andrew Lees (ARU) TMO: Matt Goddard (ARU)
ENGLAND 20 - 13 AUSTRALIA
COOK CUP
Twickenham - Saturday 02 November 2012
KO: 14:30 HT: 6-13 Att: tbc
HOW IT HAPPENED MINUTE BY MINUTE...
England v Australia Anthems done...it's a wild atmosphere in here today!
England 0-0 Australia 1min & England have 1st L/O from KO...& clear but not far
England 0-0 Australia 1min Aussie L/O outside England 22 but England force play back up to mid field
England 0-0 Australia 3mins Wallabies busted for holding on at B/D & it's penalty no. 1 for Owen Farrell to tee up...
England 3-0 Australia 3mins That's first blood to England with 3pts from Faz...
England 3-0 Australia 4mins Restart from Aus good for England as clear back over H/W...1st scrum to Wallabies
England 3-0 Australia 5mins Wallabies scrum inside England 10m but penalty to homeside...
England 3-0 Australia 6mins England possession& Marland Yarde makes metres over Aussie 10m...
England 3-0 Australia 7mins Aussies wrestle ball possession & clear but thumped back & Tom Youngs leads L/O inside own 10m
England 3-0 Australia 8mins Billy Vunipola fails to secure ball in L/O & Aussies have ball & advantage
England 3-0 Australia 8mins England offside & Wallabies have the penalty - Quade Cooper tees up for uprights...
England 3-3 Australia 9mins Cooper has no problems & Wallabies are on par...
England 3-3 Australia 10mins Aussies infringe at B/D - busted for offside & Faz tees up again just inside Aussie 10m
England 3-3 Australia 12mins Well, well...for the first time in a v long time Faz pulls it just wide of the left post!
England 3-3 Australia 14mins Power scrum from England just over Aussie 10m & win the pen...Faz tees up again
England 3-3 Australia 14mins Meanwhile, there's a massive stack of RWC2003 winners looking on today in the stands!
England 3-3 Australia 15mins Faz is having an horrid day - kick no. 2 goes awry...
England 3-3 Australia 16mins Aussies head deep into England territory but good work & forced back up to midfield quickly
England 3-3 Australia 17mins Wallabies scrum outside England 22...but lose it forward & time off...
England 3-3 Australia 18mins England defensive scrum outside own 22...is reset...for early go
England 3-3 Australia 19mins Ref gives the benefit of the doubt to England & scrum England again...
England 3-3 Australia 20mins Michael Hooper breaks too soon & its England pen; Faz clears to touch...
England 3-3 Australia 21mins L/O not working to plan for England - ball way back in England territory...
England 3-3 Australia 22mins Yarde having a cracker so far; Aussie L/O just inside England 10m & is good
England 3-3 Australia 23mins Another England defensive scrum outside own 22...reset...& its penalty England but...
England 3-3 Australia 24mins Lee Dickson charges off too quickly but ref George Clancy pulls him back
England 3-3 Australia 26mins England make it over H/W & penalty England as James Horwill infringes; Faz tees up
England 3-3 Australia 27mins Kicking from 10m but Faz's kick comes off the upright; Aussies clear & Yarde runs it back
England 3-3 Australia 27mins Great work from England into Aussie 22 - & its penalty England. Faz teeing up just right of posts
England 3-3 Australia 28mins Faz cracks it & Eng back in front; meanwhile ref has word with Aussie captain Mowen - discipline
England 6-3 Australia 29mins From restart, Aussie scrum just inside England 10m & charge into 22...
England 6-3 Australia 30mins England defence up against it with Izzy Folau metres from T/L...hold back 1st wave
England 6-8 Australia 32mins But awesome work from Cooper & Aussies sucking in Chris Ashton & Matt Toomua scores
England 6-10 Australia 33mins Conversion from Cooper & Wallabies have the lead
England 6-10 Australia 34mins So much territory for Wallabies today & penalty Cooper after Billy Twelvetrees pinged off feet
England 6-13 Australia 35mins From in front of posts just inside 10m Cooper steps up again (to silence!)
England 6-13 Australia 36mins From restart England pinged quickly & Wallabies L/O on England 10m
England 6-13 Australia 37mins England can't steal it & Aussies still in possession until eventually got...
England 6-13 Australia 38mins Suddenly England on the rampage & charge towards Aussie 22 - but not made it over yet...
England 6-13 Australia 39mins Mike Brown makes light work of Wallabies but eventually defensive scrum goes to Aus
England 6-13 Australia 39mins Will Genia goes horribly awry & play back in Wallabies territory & England driving maul
England 6-13 Australia 40mins And that's HT at Twickers and the Wallabies have the edge tho England scrum is v good
England 6-13 Australia HT P: Farrell (2) | T: Toomua C: Cooper P: Cooper (2)
England 6-13 Wallabies 44mins Laptop died...another just getting prepped! Back with you in 5!
England 6-13 Australia 48mins Apologies - switched to a Mac...this will be trouble! *notascooby*
England 6-13 Australia 48mins Spectacular work from young Yarde but eventually bundled into touch tho almost over in corner
England 6-13 Australia 49mins Time out for Scott Fardy getting treatment...
England 6-13 Australia 49mins Fardy being taken off; Aussie ball & Will Genia's ball charged down & Chris Robshaw pounces
England 11-13 Australia 49mins Robbo pounces over T/L with ball & TMO confirms there's no reason not to award the try
England 13-13 Australia 50mins Farrell equalises with the conversion and what a game this is turning out to be...
England 13-13 Australia 52mins Oh dear - update speed fallen...not a bloody clue where buttons are on Apple contraption!
England 13-13 Australia 54mins Marler & Ben Youngs prepping to come on as Kepu, Foley & McCalman on for wallabies
England 13-13 Australia 55mins England into Wallabies 22; visitors clear but England L/O & works well deep into 22
England 13-13 Australia 56mins Brown almost makes it but pulled down...recycling & England still only 5m out
England 13-13 Australia 57mins Faz finds his way thru the defence to score but goes to TMO for obstruction from Hartley
England 18-13 Australia 57mins TMO says no obstruction & England have the try from redeemed Farrell
England 20-13 Australia 58mins Swing low reverberates round the stadium after Faz converts
England 20-13 Australia 61mins Poor Genia having nightmare but till quarter to go; Aussie L/O just by H/W & Cooper clears
England 20-13 Australia 63mins Great chip ahead from Tomkins; Kuridrani & Toomua almost miss grounding for Brown to score
England 20-13 Australia 64mins TMO confirms Wallabies grounded enough to deny Brown the score...
England 20-13 Australia 66mins Twelvetrees also having an awful game! penalty to Wallabies but Cooper misses uprights
England 20-13 Australia 67mins Cannot believe Ben Foden is on bench still despite 'SixTwigs' horror! Flood replaces him
England 20-13 Australia 70mins Pace has slowed; benches emptying on both sides & play in midfield...Aussie possession
England 20-13 Australia 72mins England need to hold out for just 8 minutes & have ball in a maul...
England 20-13 Australia 73min Wallabies get possession back; charge but Ben Youngs magnificently brings down Aussie attack
England 20-13 Australia 74min But Wallabies now only 5m out & desperate for the try as England break brought back for pen
England 20-13 Australia 76mins England average age is just 24 yrs old...building for 2015! England coaches look v tense...
England 20-13 Australia 76mins England scrum & win penalty as Twickers crowd is in raptures already...
England 20-13 Australia 78mins At the death & Lawes finally captures England L/O well on H/W but Wilson drops the ball!
England 20-13 Australia 79mins England still holding out & just 30 seconds to go!!!
England 20-13 Australia 80mins Final scrum to England - penalty to homeside & it’s won!
Mike Brown 14 Chris Ashton 13 Joel Tomkins* 12 Billy Twelvetrees 11 Marland Yarde 10 Owen Farrell 9 Lee Dickson 1 Mako Vunipola 2 Tom Youngs 3 Dan Cole 4 Joe Launchbury 5 Courtney Lawes 6 Tom Wood 7 CHRIS ROBSHAW 8 Billy Vunipola BENCH: 16 Dylan Hartley 17 Joe Marler 18 David Wilson 19 Dave Attwood 20 Ben Morgan 21 Ben Youngs 22 Toby Flood 23 Ben Foden
SCORERS T: Robshaw, Farrell C: Farrell (2) P: Farrell (2)
15 Israel Folau 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper 13 Tevita Kuridrani 12 Matt Toomua 11 Nick Cummins 10 Quade Cooper 9 Will Genia 1 James Slipper 2 Stephen Moore 3 Ben Alexander 4 Sitaleki Timani 5 James Horwill 6 Scott Fardy 7 Michael Hooper 8 BEN MOWEN BENCH: 16 Saia Fainga’a 17 Benn Robinson 18 Sekope Kepu 19 Kane Douglas 20 Ben McCalman 21 Nic White 22 Christian Leali’ifano 23 Bernard Foley
SCORERS T: Toomua C: Cooper P: Cooper (2)
Referee: George Clancy (IRFU) Asst Referees: Romain Poite (FFR), Dudley Phillips (IRFU) TMO: Marshall Kilgore (IRFU)
