BANZAI or BONSAI?
Or may Steve Borthwick live to coach the Soap Dodgers for 10,000 years and Eddie gets cut down to size. The results so far see the Japanese ahead of the Soap Dodgers on their Northern Tour. The Brave Blossoms stand with one loss against France and a win against Uruguay in what was a see saw contest. We all know how the SDs have gone; they stand at 0-3 and the less said about it the better. Their last win was funnily enough against Japan at the start of July tour. Japan had a pretty good Pacific Nations Cup with 3 wins out of 4 before coming unstuck against Fiji. Let’s see what Eddie-san and his apprentice Grasshopper Borthwick can come up with in selection to whet the appetite before making any predictions.
The Apprentice, The Master, and some bloke with a serious ear problem.
THE TEAMS
England XV: Furbank; Freeman, Lawrence, Slade, Sleightholme; M Smith, van Poortvliet; Genge, George (capt), Stuart, Itoje, Martin, T Curry, Underhill, Earl.
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Baxter, Opoku-Fordjour, Isiekwe, Cunningham-South, Randall, F Smith, Roebuck.
Borthwick has made a couple of changes to the starting lineup. Furbank replaces Steward at fullback who drops out of the match-day squad. van Poortvliet is fortunate to keep his place as his game last week was eminently forgettable. Tom Curry, despite some serious concerns given his concussion history, comes back in at 7 with Cunningham-South dropping to the bench. It looks like Old Dan Cole has played his last game for the SDs with promising Sale tighthead Asher Opoku- Fordjour taking his place on the bench . Fin Smith finally gets his chance to shine with George Ford gonski. Personally, I would’ve liked to’ve seen a few more younger players getting a run, but it looks like Borthwick is drip feeding them into the senior squad.
Asher Opoku-Fordjour. One for the future.
Japan XV: Matsunaga; Osada, Riley, Fifita, Naikabula; McCurran, Saito; Okabe, Harada, Takeuchi, Waqa, Uluiviti, Shimokawa, Himeno, Makisi.
Replacements: Lee, Morikawa, Tamefusa, Akiyama, Tatafu, Gunter, Fujiwara, Kajimura.
I see a few familiar names but to be honest I don’t know much about the team Eddie has selected.
PREDICTION
It should be a comfortable win for England. After recalling Furbank and Curry, and handing Fin Smith a place on the bench for the first time this autumn, Borthwick has vowed that his side will play at a ferocious pace. Whether we see more running from the backline, as opposed to the monotonous kick chasing that has been his template, remains to be seen. Eddie has also promised a fast and furious game from the Brave Blossoms. Maybe we’ll see a feast of running rugby, here’s hoping.
THE MATCH
1st half
England have made a fast start in all the games on this Autumn tour and this has continued. In the ninth minute Marcus Smith sends Ollie Lawrence through a hole and the Bath centre finds Earl who runs under the posts for the opening score. Smith converts.
14 mins in and a penalty for the home side is despatched to the corner. The lineout is won with very little fuss and two phases later Underhill puts his head down and forces himself over from a metre out to ground it one-handed. Converted by Smith. In the process of scoring Underhill is injured and replaced by Cunningham -South.
We’re just over halfway through the first half and England continue to apply pressure through their kicking game. Japan give two penalties away that lead to a 5m line out and it’s a simple catch and drive over the line for George to score. Smith converts and it’s 21-0 with the SDs in the driving seat.
A spectacular dive in the corner by Freeman to score is chalked off when the replay shows that JvP fumbled the ball. Normality is restored when following another scrum penalty, a resultant lineout drive and George rumbles over for his second. Smith knocks over the conversion to take it to 28-0.
Hello, hello, hello wot’s all this then? From their own half Japan work it right via Riley who flies through a gap created by the England defensive rush. Once they’re in behind he pops the ball to Saito on a support line to race over and score. The captain dusts himself off and converts his own try. 28-7.
England then return the compliment. Lawrence has a bumping run midfield and offloads to Stuart who fires a nice long pass on the run for Cunningham-South to feed Sleightholme. Seeing the cover coming across the winger prods a grubber in-goal that he chases and dives on.
Smith strikes a good conversion from out wide. We go into half time with the SDs 35-7 to the good and it’s been pretty much one way traffic.
2nd half
As in the first half, when Japan have the ball they’re finding it easy to get around the England defence. The latest sees them firing it through fast hands to Osada and he’s around Sleightholme and running free towards Furbank. The final pass is not quite there, but it’s dangerous stuff. As per usual George retires on the 50 min mark and is replaced by LCD and, wonder of wonders, England give away a scrum penalty. What is going on? Further replacements are made upfront. England now have a new front row.
Some of the pressure on Japan is self inflicted. They make a total Horlicks of a lineout, Slade angles a kick to the corner that Freeman reaches and throws a cheeky one handed pass to Furbank who walks in. Smith misses the conversion. 40-7.
Cheeky boy
20 minutes to go and it’s another lineout drive and Cowan-Dickie is over. Smith misses and it’s 45-7. He’s then replaced by Fin Smith and moves to FB.
They may be under pressure and have limited possession but when they secure the ball Japan look good. They play with pacy phases, great angles and confident offloads. None more so when they start an attack in their own half and break the line with Osada’s run that is halted by Smith. However, they keep the ball alive and it goes through more hands to find Himeno who cuts a lovely angle to dive over. 45-14. The game is all but over but for a change England finish strongly adding two more tries. The first by replacement Roebuck and LCD grabs his second. Smith converts both and the final score is 59-14.
SUMMARY
The outcome of the match was never in doubt. On a positive note, the bench players had some meaningful game time and all contributed to a comfortable England win. The Japanese played their part, starved of possession and under pressure they looked good with ball in hand. I suppose we shouldn’t argue with 9 tries but the blitz defensive needs some work. Better teams will take it apart. England played some decent rugby but their game is still about kicking and building pressure, which maybe OK against Japan but the next England game is the 6Ns against Ireland in Dublin. Ouch!
Japan pay their respects.
