The tries came thick and fast at the end for Wales as they made Japan suffer for their red card. Morgan Morse made the running for back to back tries for the centre paring of Bryn Bradley and Louie Hennessey. Edwards converted the first and then Harri Wilde ended the game with his conversion.
Wales had a scrum in front of the Japanese posts and lost control of the ball as they were shunted back and conceded a penalty.
Japan conceded a scrum 5 metres out through a forward pass. Morgan Morse picks up and goes blind with Archie Hughes. A long floated pass gave replacement wing Tom Florence the chance to cut inside and barge over for the try that put Wales back in front.
Another bonus point win for the French. Crucially, New Zealand failed to pick up any points.
The yellow card for Yoshiki Omachi has been upgraded to red, so the Japanese will be down to 14 for the rest of the match.
Japanese centre and captain Yoshiki Omachi sees yellow for driving into a ruck and injuring Evan Hill. Wales need to press home their numerical advantage just as the Japanese did in the first half.Â
The Japanese forwards are getting on top at the set-pieces and a scrum penalty allows them to kick to the corner. This time their throw is not straight.
The second half has started.
It’s 28-0 to France against New Zealand after 54 minutes. They have their four tries for a bonus-point and both side’s are currently playing one man short after yellow cards.
Big second half coming up for Ryan Woodman’s side. They’ve got two of the four tries they need and must win the game to stay in touch in their pool.
Dan Edwards kicks a Welsh penalty deep into the Japanese 22. A short line ends with Jonny Green just managing to hold onto the bar of soap and bring the ball down. Lewis Lloyd breaks off the back to the blindside, barges through one tackle and runs 15 metres unopposed to score.
That’s a third try for the Japanese as they demonstrate their back line skills. After moving the ball from right to left, they sent it back again the other way and a cross kick paved the way for wing Renji Oike to go over in the corner.
The Japanese forwards were licking their lips at another chance to show off their driving line-out after kicking to the corner. Wales sacked the first illegally and then had no answer to the second as hooker Nagashima powered over again. Kanjiro Naramoto kicked another conversion.
Wales are penalties at another scrum and then conceded an offside penalty on the 22. That means they will have to defend another driving line out
JAPANESE DRIVING LINE-OUT TRY – Wales 10 – 7 Japan (23 min)
The Japanese kick to the corner and with a forward down, Wales are unable to stop hooker Kouta Nagashima powering over. They scored two tries like that against the French. Conversion is good.
Wales go down to 14 as the TMO picks up a shoulder to head from lock Evan Hill as he defends as drive.
Archie Hughes scores
Bryn Bradley makes the running and scrum half Archie Hughes supports him in the Japanese 22 to score the first try of the game wide out on the left. Dan Edwards adds the extras.
France are leading Ne Zealand 21-0 at the break in Paarl.
The conditions are tricky every scrum has collapsed. Twice now Louis Fletcher has been penalised the referee.
It is damp and pretty miserable in Cape Town. But Dan Edwards has kicked Wales into a 3rd minute lead after a penalty in front of the Japanese posts.
In the other game in Pool A, France lead New Zealand 14-0 after 30 minutes.
Head coach Mark Jones has made two changes to the Wales U20 side to face Japan U20Â at the Danie Craven Stadium, in Stellenbosch, in Round 2 of the World Rugby U20 Championships (KO 1pm UK, Live S4C).
In come tight head prop Louis Fletcher for the injured Ethan Fackrell, while Evan Hill gets his first start in the second row. There are also two changes on the replacements bench to the line-up that lost 27-26 to New Zealand last weekend.
The Japanese were beaten 75-12 by France in their first game, conceding 11 tries. They have made seven changes to their side.
Wales U20 v Japan U20
15 Cameron Winnett (Cardiff Rugby)
14 Llien Morgan (Ospreys)
13 Louie Hennessey (Bath Rugby)
12 Bryn Bradley (Harlequins)
11 Harri Houston (Ospreys)
10 Dan Edwards (Ospreys)
9 Archie Hughes (Scarlets)
1 Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths (Dragons)
2 Lewis Lloyd (Ospreys)
3 Louis Fletcher (Ospreys)
4 Evan Hill (Ospreys)
5 Jonny Green (Harlequins)
6 Ryan Woodman (Dragons, captain)
7 Lucas De La Rua (Cardiff Rugby)
8 Morgan Morse (Ospreys)
Replacements
16 Sam Scarfe (Dragons) 17 Josh Morse (Scarlets) 18 Kian Hire (Ospreys) 19 Mackenzie Martin (Cardiff Rugby) 20 Seb Driscoll (Harlequins) 21 Tom Florence (Ospreys) 22 Harri Wiilde (Cardiff Rugby) 23 Harri Wiliams (Scarlets)
HEAD TO HEAD: WALES U20 V JAPAN U20
Played: 3 – Wales leads 3-0 Points for: Wales 117 / Japan 30 (avg. score 39-10)
Highest score: Wales 66 (66-3 on 10 June, 2015) / Japan 17 (17-18 on 7 June, 2018)
Biggest winning margin: Wales 63 (66-3 on 10 June, 2015)
10/06/2008 Pool Wales 33-10 Japan Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales
10/06/2015 Pool Wales 66-3 Japan Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, Viadana, Italy
17/06/2018 Pool Wales 18-17 Japan Stade Aime-Giral, Perpignan, France
Head-to-head notes
• The sides met on the second match-day of the inaugural World Rugby U20 Championship in 2008, hosts Wales running out 33-10 winners at Liberty Stadium in Swansea.
• Sam Warburton captained Wales that day and was yellow-carded, while Leigh Halfpenny scored on the stroke of half-time and kicked four conversions.
• Wales’ other tries came from Jason Tovey, Nathan Rees (two) and Luke Ford.
• Japan, who trailed 26-0 at half-time, fought back to score two unconverted tries after the break through Aisea Havea and Masataka Mikami.
• In the second meeting in 2015, Wales fell just short of their record score and record winning margin in the competition, which was set in 2012 when they defeated Samoa 74-3.
• The teams were only separated by a point, however, in the last encounter in 2018 with Wales winning 18-17.
• Harri Morgan and Dewi Cross scored tries and Cai Evans kicked eight points.
• Japan fell just short despite tries from Halatoa Vailea, Miyu Arai and Siosaia Fifita. Crucially, only one was converted by Yuto Mori.
THE WORLD RUGBY U20 CHAMPIONSHIP STORY SO FAR
U20 Championship 2023 results
Wales: L 27-26 v New Zealand
Japan: L 75-12 v France
• Wales led New Zealand 19-5 at half-time in round one but succumbed to a 27-26 defeat.
• Tries from Liam Lloyd, Daniel Edwards and Morgan Morse put them in command before New Zealand rallied. However, a late try from Sam Scarfe ensured Wales were rewarded with two bonus points.
• Edwards kicked three conversions but missed a penalty for a 60 per cent success rate in the match.
• Discipline will be a work-on for Wales as they conceded the most penalties in round one (16).
• They enjoyed more territory than any other team in round one, spending two-thirds of the match inside New Zealand’s half.
• Japan scored a try in each half against France through Kosho Muto and Takashi Omoto with Kanjiro Naramoto kicking one conversion.
• Japan only made 62 per cent of their tackles, the worst in round one, while their average points per visit into the opposition 22 (1.7) also had them ranked last.
• Japan kicked the least of all the teams in open play (12).
GENERAL TEAM NOTES
Overall U20 Championship win/loss record
Wales: P61, W35, L26 (57% win rate)
Japan: P26, W3, L23 (12% win rate)
• Wales have competed in every tournament since the World Rugby U20 Championship began in 2008.
• Wales have reached the semi-finals three times with a best finish of second in France in 2013 when they lost 23-15 to England in the final.
• They have never finished lower than seventh at this level.
• Wales were whitewashed in the 2023 U20 Six Nations, finishing bottom after failing to win a single game for the first time in the history of the competition.
• Two of those defeats (against Scotland and Italy) were by less than five points though, while they also picked up a try bonus point in their defeat to champions Ireland.
• Japan have alternated between the World Rugby U20 Championship and U20 Trophy since 2014, suffering two relegations in that period.
• Japan return to this level after beating Portugal 35-34 in the final of World Rugby U20 Trophy 2019 in Brazil.
• They have never finished higher than 10th (in Italy in 2015) and have won just three of their 26 games.
• Japan have never won a pool match and are without a victory at any stage of the competition since they defeated Samoa 29-12 in 2015. Their only previous wins came against the USA (44-8 in 2008) and Uruguay (54-12 in 2009).
• Japan’s preparations for the U20 Championship included an impressive 52-46 win against New Zealand Universities.
• Japan also fielded an U20 team at the World Rugby Pacific Challenge in Samoa in May. After beginning with a heavy 72-15 loss to eventual champions Fiji Warriors, Junior Japan beat Tonga A 52-17 before losing narrowly to Manuma Samoa 44-33
• Yoshiki Omachi captains Japan from outside centre having performed the role in his two starts against Fiji Warriors and Manuma Samoa at the World Rugby Pacific Challenge.
• Omachi accumulated the most points (24) for Junior Japan in that tournament and was second overall behind Fiji’s Moti Murray.
• Fly-half Kanjiro Naramoto scored two tries in his only start in the Pacific Challenge against Fiji Warriors.
• Durham University student Harry Willard, who came through the Yorkshire Rugby academy, starts in the second row having made his debut for Japan against New Zealand Universities last month. English-born Willard has a Japanese mother.
• Pacific Challenge 2023 top try-scorer Kota Nagashima returns to the starting line-up having sat out last weekend’s defeat to France
