It was a day of records at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo, when Daisuke Ohata scored eight tries and Japan equalled the biggest victory margin ever in an international, beating Chinese Taipei by 155-3 in a 2003 Rugby World Cup Asian qualifying match.
Ohata's eight tries are a new Japanese record, while his 40 points are also the most scored in an international for his country.
The most tries ever scored in an international are the 10 scored by Ashley Billington for Hong Kong, against Singapore, in 1994. G.M. Jorge (for Argentina against Brazil in 1993) and Lance Fitzpatrick (for the Cook Islands against Tahiti in 2001) have both scored eight tries in a Test -- equal second to Ohata's mark.
The flying winger's try-scoring feat improves on the previous Japanese mark, set by Terunori Masuho against Taiwan in 1998, when he touched down five times. Toru Kurihara, who scored 35 points against South Korea three weeks ago, held the previous record for most points in a Test for Japan. Japan won that match 90-24.
Ironically Ohata's last try came in injury-time, giving him his 30th Test try and making him the greatest try-scorer in Japan's history.
Japan also equalled the world record for the biggest winning margin in a Test, with the 152 points equal to the 152-0 win Argentina posted against Paraguay in a South American championship match earlier this year.
This was also Japan's highest score in a Test match, eclipsing the previous mark of 134 points against Taiwan in Taipei at the Asian championships in 1998.
For Japanese coach Shogo Mukai it also put to rest one of the most embarrassing moments in his career. Mukai was the coach of Japan when they were beaten 145-17 by New Zealand at the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
"I had always expected our team to play better than Taiwan in all aspects," he told the media. "Japan had been at the receiving end of a 145 points defeat before, so I wanted to score more than that," Mukai added.
But for captain Hideki Nanba the main goal, qualifying for RWC 2003, was far more important than the victory margin. They have two more matches in the Asian qualifying tournament left and will meet South Korea next Sunday and Chinese Taipei a week later -- two matches which should see them qualify.
"The best thing today was that we didn't give a single try to Taiwan," Nanba told the media. "But we haven't yet won a ticket to the World Cup. I just want to concentrate on our text match, to beat South Korea," he added.
South Korea head the standings with seven points from two wins and one defeat, while Japan are second with two straight wins for six points. Bottom of the Asian standings are Taiwan, with just two points after failing to win any of their matches.
Taiwan's captain Lin Yi-te said that Saturday's match had illustrated how far behind his country was in competing realistically against the Asian super powers.
"We've played many games, but today's game was the toughest. The Japanese are really strong. In Taiwan there are not so many rugby players, while facilities and conditions are not on par with that in Japan.
"I hope we can reduce the points deficit a bit when we play Japan next time," he said.
Flyhalf Andrew Miller of New Zealand, who replaced Toro Kurihara at half-time, kicked 12 conversions, also a new national record breaking the previous mark of 11 made by Kurihara.
Japan scored a total of 23 tries.
The Teams:
Japan: 1 Shin Hasegawa, 2 Masaaki Sakata, 3 Masahiko Toyoyama, 4 Koichi Kubo, 5 Adam Parker, 6 Naoya Okubo, 7 Dean Anglesey, 8 Yuya Saito, 9 Sinichi Tsukida, 10 Andy Miller, 11 Toru Kurihara, 12 Yukio Motoki, 13 Hideki Nanba (c), 14 Daisuke Ohata, 15 Hirotoki Onozowa
Unused: Takeomi Ito, Ken Iwabuchi, Kazuya Koizumi, Ryohei Miki, Wataru Murata, Masahito Yamamoto, Ryo Yamamura
Referee: Deaker k.
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