Kotaro Matsushima touched down three times as Japan overcame a nervous start to beat a resilient Russian outfit 30-10 in the opening game of the World Cup in Tokyo.
After the long build-up, it was perhaps unsurprising to see the Brave Blossoms begin slowly, but it was still a surprise that the Bears stayed in the contest for so long.
They shocked the hosts by taking the lead via Kirill Golosnitskiy and were only 12-7 in arrears at the interval after Matsushima touched down twice, but the Japanese eventually pulled away in the second half.
Yu Tamura added a couple of penalties while Pieter Labuschagne and Matsushima, who completed his hat-trick, secured the bonus-point to give them the full five points, but Japan will have to improve significantly if they are to beat Ireland next week.
Jamie Joseph’s men are well-fancied to excel at their home tournament and a match against minnows Russia offered them an ideal chance to ease their way into the competition.
Nerves were prevalent, however, and from the kick-off the Bears almost stunned the hosts when Stanislav Selskii scampered down the right before being halted five metres out.
The mistakes continued following a charge-down and an error under the high ball from William Tupou, which allowed Golosnitskiy to collect and score the first try of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
It was deserved after a poor initial five minutes, but the restart enabled the Brave Blossoms to get their hands on the ball and they were much more comfortable. Their high tempo game was in evidence and a brilliant off-load from Timothy Lafaele gave Matsushima an easy run to the line.
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A lovely no look pass from @TimLafaele#RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/n7tOib7UI3
— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) September 20, 2019
Russia, despite tiring quickly, were resilient though and created opportunities via Yury Kushnarev’s varied kicking game. It wasn’t always perfect but, when the fly-half got it right, Lyn Jones’ charges produced a brilliant attack which put the Japanese under duress.
Centres Dmitry Gerasimov and Vladimir Ostroushko, who had been physical throughout the opening period, combined nicely, but the latter could not quite get the ball out to the lurking German Davydov.
Having survived that scare, Japan dominated the rest of the half but they struggled to break through a stout Russian defensive barrier. Jones’ men were well-organised and powerful in contact, but they were eventually breached late on when Matsushima crossed for the second time.
Joseph’s outfit took that momentum into the final 40 minutes and, after Tamura had extended their lead with a penalty, Labuschagne ripped the ball from Grenoble second-row Andrei Ostrikov on halfway and showed impressive pace to score.
It took his team 13 points clear but, to Russia’s credit, they kept themselves in the contest and reduced the arrears going into the final quarter through Kushnarev’s three-pointer.
Japan regained that buffer via the boot of Tamura but it was a poor display from the quarter-final hopefuls, who were far too loose.
The Brave Blossoms still had too much quality for the Bears, however, and sealed the win and the bonus-point when a poor Vasily Artemyev kick was pounced upon by the hosts, allowing Matsushima to complete his treble.
The scorers:
For Japan:
Tries: Matsushima 3, Labuschagne
Cons: Tamura, Matsuda
Pens: Tamura 2
For Russia:
Try: Golosnitskiy
Con: Kushnarev
Pen: Kushnarev
Japan: 15 William Tupou, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 11 Lomano Lava Lemeki, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Yutaka Nagare, 8 Kazuki Himeno, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Michael Leitch (c), 5 James Moore, 4 Wimpie van der Walt, 3 Asaeli Ai Valu, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Isileli Nakajima, 18 Jiwon Koo, 19 Luke Thompson, 20 Hendrik Tui, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Ryohei Yamanaka
Russia: 15 Vasily Artemyev (c), 14 German Davydov, 13 Vladimir Ostroushko, 12 Dmitry Gerasimov, 11 Kirill Golosnitskiy, 10 Yury Kushnarev, 9 Vasily Dorofeev, 8 Nikita Vavilin, 7 Tagir Gadzhiev, 6 Vitaly Zhivatov, 5 Bogdan Fedotko, 4 Andrei Ostrikov, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Stanislav Selskii, 1 Valery Morozov
Replacements: 16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Andrei Polivalov, 18 Azamat Bitiev, 19 Andrey Garbuzov, 20 Anton Sychev, 21 Dmitry Perov, 22 Ramil Gaisin, 23 Vladislav Sozonov
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Matthew Carley (England)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
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