Japan beat Scotland to reach first WC quarters; Wales, Tonga post wins
Japan’s Kenki Fukuoka celebrates after scoring a try against Scotland during their Rugby World Cup Pool A game in Yokohama on Sunday. Associated Press
Rampaging wingers Kotaro Matsushima and Kenki Fukuoka did the damage for Japan, who survived a late fightback in Yokohama to advance as Pool A winners along with Ireland.
The Brave Blossoms will face two-time world champions South Africa in Tokyo next weekend after making it a perfect four wins out of four, roared on by a crowd of 67,000.
Fukuoka, scorer of Japan’s try in their 19-12 upset over Ireland, grabbed two more in Yokohama with Matsushima notching his fifth of the tournament for the rampant Japanese.
Scotland needed to win while preventing Japan from securing a defensive bonus point -- and they got off to a flying start.
Early pressure told as fly-half Finn Russell broke through to give them the lead after just seven minutes.
But the Japanese hit back quickly with Matsushima latching onto a superb, one-handed offload from Fukuoka to score his fifth try of the tournament.
Even better was to come from the hosts with a dazzling move straight out of a basketball playbook, quick hands between Shota Horie and William Tupou releasing loosehead prop Keita Inagaki to crash over.
On the stroke of half-time, the jet-heeled Fukuoka plucked a high-bouncing Timothy Lafaele grubber kick out of the air to leave Scotland with a mountain to climb.
Fukuoka then produced a moment of solo brilliance moments into the second half, stripping the ball from Chris Harris before accelerating clear. Scotland looked out of it.
When WP Nel and Zander Fagerson bulldozed over in the space of five minutes, suddenly the Japanese were creaking.
But they stood firm in the face of a late barrage to avenge a 45-10 defeat by Scotland that cost them a place in the knockout stages of the 2015 World Cup.
Elsewhere, Wales set up a Rugby World Cup quarter-final with Six Nations rivals France as they topped Pool D with a far-from-perfect 35-13 win over minnows Uruguay.
A largely second-string Welsh side committed a slew of handling errors and forward passes with the line at their mercy but eventually had too much firepower for the spirited underdogs, and a late Gareth Davies try put some gloss on the scoreboard.
In another match, Tonga enjoyed a final flourish at the World Cup as they beat the US 31-19 to maintain their 20-year dominance over the Eagles.
The Pacific side fumbled a series of chances and weathered a late fightback before completing their first victory of the tournament in a tough Pool C.
Captain Siale Piutau, playing his last Test, was among the scorers as Tonga brought up their ninth straight win over America since they lost their first meeting in 1999.
Tonga dominated territory and possession in the first half but they were 12-7 down at the break after poor decisions and handling errors denied them a series of tries.
James Faiva fended off two defenders in a typically adventurous break to create Tonga’s opening score on 16 minutes, setting up prop forward Siegfried Fisi’ihoi who barrelled over from a maul. But the USA hit back with two tries in five minutes from replacement fullback Mike Te’o, who stepped in smartly from the wing for his first and then found himself in oceans of space for his second.
Agence France-Presse
