Steve Borthwick’s England beat Japan 34-12 at Stade de Nice despite a somewhat shaky start.
Tries from Northampton Saints duo Lewis Ludlam and Courtney Lawes, Leicester Tigers’ Freddie Steward,and Stade Francais’ Joe Marchant saw England end the match with a bonus point.
Japan’s Rikiya Matsuda drew them level in the 15th minute with a penalty of his own, and then took them ahead with a second minutes later.
Ludlam scored the first England try of the match, and of the World Cup, with his score in the 24th minute as they capitalised on a loose ball from the lineout. Ford added the conversion to take the score to 10-6.
Matsuda moved Japan to within a point with another penalty on 32 minutes, but Ford swiftly followed 10 minutes later at the end of the first half to take the half time score to 13-9.
Matsuda scored the first points in the second half with another penalty, again moving the gap between the two sides to within a point. Lawes scored England’s second try 56 minutes into the match after collecting the ball which had bounced off team-mate Joe Marler’s head to score under the posts. Ford added the easy conversion and the score stood at 20-12.
Japan failed score in the time that remained despite having a few chances, but England’s Steward added to their lead with a try in the corner after collecting a pinpoint cross-field kick from Ford, who subsequently converted.
Marchant scored the all-important fourth try to give England the bonus point under the South of France sky, and Ford had the final word with the conversion to take the final score to 34-12 for Borthwick’s side.
TALKING POINT – England momentum building
England weathered a tough battle with Japan and Ford provided Borthwick’s side with the majority of their points again.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH – George Ford
Ford followed up his brilliant performance against Argentina with another fine display, as he controlled the pattern of play and was named official player of the match.
PLAYER RATINGS
England: Joe Marler 6, Jamie George 6, Kyle Sinckler 6, Maro Itoje 6, Ollie Chessum 6, Courtney Lawes 8, Ben Earl 7, Lewis Ludlam 8, Alex Mitchell 7, George Ford 7, Elliot Daly 6, Manu Tuilagi 6, Joe Marchant 8, Jonny May 6, Freddie Steward 7
Replacements: Theo Dan 6 , Ellis Genge 7, Will Stuart 6, George Martin 6, Billy Vunipola 6, Ben Youngs 6, Marcus Smith 7, Ollie Lawrence 6
Japan: Keita Inagaki 5, Shota Horie 5, Jiwon Gu 5, Jack Cornelsen 5, Amato Fakatava 5, Michael Leitch 6, Pieter Labuschagne 5, Kazuki Himeno © 6, Yutaka Nagare 6 (that no-look backwards kick!), Rikiya Matsuda 5, Jone Naikabula 5, Ryoto Nakamura 5, Tomoki Osada 5, Kotaro Matsushima 6, Semisi Masirewa (N/A went off early)
Atsushi Sakate 5, Craig Millar 5, Asaeli Ai Valu 5, Warner Dearns 5, Kanji Shimokawa 5, Naoto Saito 5, Dylan Riley 6, Lomano Lemeki 6
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
George Ford provides 14 points from the boot and is awarded Player of the Match.
Japan’s Rikiya Matsuda scores all of their points.
Lewis Ludlam scores England’s first try of the 2023 World Cup after Chessum gathers a loose ball from the lineout (24 mins).
Captain Courtney Lawes scores England’s second, under the posts after the ball ricochets off of Joe Marler’s head (56 mins).
Freddie Steward scores the third after collecting a cross field kick from Ford (66 mins)
Joe Marchant adds the bonus point with the clock in the red (81 mins).
KEY STATS
- George Ford (Eng) scored the most points in the match (14)
- Japan’s Pieter Labuschagne made the most tackles (19)
- Kotaro Matsushima (Japan) made the most metres (86)
- England’s Ben Earl made the most line-breaking carries (10)
- England made 516 metres compared to Japan’s 334.
- England won 81.8% scrums and 76.9% of lineouts.
- Japan’s Michael Leitch became their most RWC capped player ever (15 appearances)
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