USA vs Japan match report: Brave Blossoms bow out in style as they secure historical third victory

USA 18 Japan 28

Amanaki Mafi stretches out to score a try for Japan against USA (Getty Images)

So long Japan. The Brave Blossoms left the World Cup in the style in which they arrived, with a breathless brand of rugby which won them a new pocket of fans in Gloucester on Sunday night.

Having waited 24 years from their last World Cup victory against Zimbabwe, Japan leave the tournament with three wins, their last a 28-18 win over the United States.

That they are the first side in World Cup history to fail to qualify from the pool stages with three wins, the most famous being the 34-32 shock over South Africa, made their exit all the more painful and premature.

At Kingsholm the vocal support was apt for a team that has done so much for the tournament and playing in the cherry and white colours of Gloucester. In contrast, it was not to be a triumphant return for United States Rugby CEO Nigel Melville, at a club where he was director of rugby for three years from 2002.

The US played their part in the game too, dominating the breakdown and winning repeated turnovers, and could well have won the match had they been more clinical and not knocked on the ball so persistently in attack.

But three tries by Japan and 13 points from the ever-reliant boot of Ayumu Goromaru, who took his tournament tally to 57, ensured Eddie Jones bowed out of his final game in charge of Japan with another win before taking a new job with Cape Town Stormers.

Japan needed only a whiff of an opportunity to spark their breathless rugby into life, their first chance coming after just seven minutes when Kosei Ono slipped a tackle in his own half and chipped clear for Yoshikazu Fujita.

Fujita could not beat the last tackler nor Michael Leitch but, as the ball was recycled, it came down the line for Kotaro Matsushima to touch down.

The early US attacks were littered with errors until a sustained period of pressure 15 minutes later with Japan entrenched on their line led to a looped mis-pass by Chris Wyles leaving Takudzwa Ngwenya clear to run into the corner.

The Americans had barely settled into the restart when Fujita scooped up the ball to launch a fresh wave of attacks, which befittingly ended with Fujita himself scoring off the back of a maul.

Goromaru converted both tries and added a penalty and he traded kicks from the tee with AJ MacGinty after a more tentative and less free-flowing start to the second half, at least initially.

The United States threatened to close the gap until Amanaki Mafi went from try saver to try scorer in a matter of minutes, felling Ngwenya before piling over the try line after Japan had opted for to kick for touch from their resulting counter attack.

The US hit back with a late try from Wyles courtesy of a long MacGinty pass but it was too little to late as Japan, as has been their custom, stole the limelight once more.

Their next World Cup bow as hosts is a salivating one.

Teams

USA: C Wyles; T Ngwenya, S Kelly, T Palamo, Z Test; A MacGinty, M Petri; E Fry, Z Fenoglio (P Thiel, 63), T Lamositele; H Smith (C Dolan, 30), G Peterson (J Quill, 76); A McFarland (N Kruger, 63), A Durutalo, S Manoa. Replacements: O Kilifi, C Baumann, D Barrett, F Niua. Tries: Ngwenya, Wyles Cons: MacGinty. Pens: MacGinty 2

Japan: A Goromaru; Y Fujita, H Tatekawa, C Wing, K Matsushima; K Ono (K Hesketh, 72), F Tanaka; K Inagaki (M Mikami, 59), S Horie (T Kizu, 76), H Yamashita; L Thompson, J Ives (S Makabe, 67); M Leitch, M Broadhurst (H Tui, 71), R Holani (A Mafi, 40). Replacements: K Hatakeyama, A Hiwasa. Tries: Matsushima, Fujita, Mafi Cons: Goromaru 2 Pens: Goromaru 3

Referee: Glen Jackson Attendance: 14,517.