Japan vs South Africa - Rugby World Cup 2019 quarter-final: Makazole Mapimpi double ends hosts’ dreams in Tokyo
Japan 3-26 South Africa: The Springboks will now face Wales in the semi-finals for a place in the final
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They thrilled and stunned us throughout this Rugby World Cup, but the quarter-final proved one game too far for Japan as the Springboks got the job done in Tokyo, winning 26-3.
It was all about constriction for the Boks. So much of it was unsexy and conventional, but this is knock-out rugby. The springboks got the job done and now march on to meet Wales in the semi-finals in Yokohama next week.
Not that anyone will see South Africa as the bad guys – this was a demonstration of the harsh realities of Test rugby, where pragmatism is so often king. South Africa let Japan wear themselves out, with the hosts running it from their own 22 and throwing a lot of movement in before contact. In an 80-minute game, South Africa did what they needed to do at the right times.
The first of their three tries was all too easy a finish for Makazole Mapimpi – with his brace today meaning that he now has 13 tries in 12 Tests – as the wing handed off normally-robust ten Yu Tamura and cantered in at the corner.
Hours of debate will no doubt be paid to a sin-binning for Tendai Mtawarira. He was lucky not to be red-carded as he lifted opposite number Keita Inagaki in the tackle. However, the adventurous Japan could only make their one-man advantage tell to the tune of three points.
It was a first half of limited scope besides, with so much running done between the two 22m lines and South Africa were chuffed enough to hold on and let Japan run around themselves.
Controlled fly-half Handre Pollard kept chipping away with penalties. He finished with three to his name, as well as a conversion. But it was Faf de Klerk who epitomised the Boks display, with a defensive masterclass in the first half an a fine rhythm in the second.
His try, the second of three for the Springboks, was borne out of a clock-munching long maul from the South African lineout. With substitute hooker Malcolm Marx sheering off and hitting the scrum-half, the half-back scuttled under the posts.
The tension built for the hosts, who kept hunting. But the third came from that man Pollard sneaking off on a half-break of his own. He found full-back Willie le Roux with a pass and the full-back shoveled it on to Mapimpi.
The winger did what he has done consistently in green and got the score in the corner. There was no conversion, but the tide was still constant. It meant 21 unanswered points now for South Africa.
It looked so straightforward for the Springboks as they saw it out. Japan made them work and whatever happens in the end of all this, we will spend a long time singing the host’s praises.
Wales, in their analysis will take a healthy respect for the South African pack work and certainly their defence. According to Opta, this was the first time Japan have been held try-less in a World Cup match since 2007.
Lood de Jager made 15 hits and Damian de Allende made 14 from the centres too. In fact, the South Africans were happy to make 140 tackles to their opponents’ 91. They just let Japan be Japan.
The same game plan may not be so effective against the Welsh – de Klerk made fewer than half the passes of his opposite man, Yutaka Nagare, for example. The South Africans kicked the ball away ten more times than their challengers. Wales just got over the line against France in their quarter-final, but they will love being allowed to play.
Looking to the future, it will be fascinating to see what direction Japanese rugby takes now, in the wake of this landmark event. They have played rugby that fans love to watch and marketers delight in promoting. A quarter-final place represents their greatest ever World Cup. They climbed to six in the World Rankings. They have a glorious opportunity ahead of them.
Not that South Africa are thinking about any of that. This match was obstinate and sensible. It may not fire passions or sell jerseys, but winning is all that matters at this point and they have a knack for scoring points and edging away from their opponents.
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