Japan made to work for win in steamy Hong Kong

Japan maintained their perfect start to the Asia Rugby Championship yesterday with a hard-fought 38-3 win over a resilient Hong Kong. The 2019 World Cup hosts ran in six tries, with fly-half Ryohei Yamanaka adding four conversions during play in humid weather at the Hong Kong Football Club. The match was a stark contrast to their storming 12-try, 85-0 win over South Korea in last week’s tournament opener in Yokohama. Benjamin Rimene posted Hong Kong’s only score with a first-half penalty, ahead of Leigh Jones’ side’s trip to Incheon next week to face South Korea as the three-team round-robin tournament continues. Japan quickly established a 12-0 lead following tries from flanker Shokei Kin and scrum-half Keisuke Uchida, although a penalty from Hong Kong fly-half Rimene reduced the deficit for the hosts. But a try from winger Kentaro Kodama soon extended the advantage for the 10-time defending Asian champions to 19-3 at half-time. Last week, Japan had led 47-0 after 40 minutes of play. Hong Kong enjoyed significant time in their opponent’s territory at the end of the first half, albeit without reward, and fought to stay in the contest after the break.  But Japan finally broke the home side’s resistance with a try in the corner from centre Ryota Nakamura just under 15 minutes into the second half. And replacement Hiroki Yamamoto added a pair of tries inside the final 20 minutes as Ryuji Nakatake’s Japan sealed the victory. “There was big differences between the Korea game and today’s game, especially Hong Kong’s pressure in the breakdown,” said Japan interim coach Nakatake. “We had a lot of mistakes and penalties, which at the moment is one of our weaknesses. “It is a step forward from last week as there were some good links between the forwards and the backs, so I think the quality is getting better, but today Hong Kong’s pressure at the breakdown and good chasing after the kick was the reason it was a close game.”