Japanese Hosts Win Again

It was a great night for the hosts, who took full advantage of a late gift by Samoa to grab a bonus-point victory. Samoa played as if their Rugby World Cup lives depended on it, and now they are on their way home, they battled well and proved very testing opponents for the Japanese. Henry Taefu was superb, he scored all 19 points for Samoa, with a try, a conversion and four penalties. Japan have three wins out of three, and 14 from a possible 15 points in their Pool. The hosts will go into their final match of the pool stage against Scotland next week in full control of this Pool group. They can lose to Scotland but a losing bonus point would still take them through.

“It was hard work out there. It took us a long time … they are a quality side and they showed it, especially in the first half, it was a see-saw battle” Said the Japanese Skipper after the game.