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Japan player ratings vs USA | Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup
By Yuko Morimoto
In their Pacific Nations Cup opener, Japan defeated the USA 41-24 at Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, showcasing strong performances from key players like Dylan Riley and Harumichi Tatekawa.
Despite a resilient effort from the young USA team, Japan’s strategic adjustments and standout moments ensured their victory and advancement to the semifinals as Pool B winners.
Below are the player ratings for Japan:
1. Shogo Miura – 6
Contributed in phase play but struggled to create momentum in the scrum.
2. Atsushi Sakate – N/A
Injured and left the field in the first half.
3. Keijiro Tamefusa – 6
Faced frequent penalties in the scrum during the first half, which will be an area for improvement.
4. Sanaila Waqa – 7
Maintained his presence near the opposition goal line. Scored a try from a strong forward drive.
5. Warner Dearns – 8
Although ball-carrying was better against Canada, his performance in the line-out was consistent.
6. Tiennan Costley – 8
Consistently reliable. Effectively broke up the opposition’s momentum by earning penalties.
7. Kanji Shimokawa – 7
Aggressively involved in low and painful plays.
8. Faulua Makisi – 7
Committed to various situations on both attack and defense.
9. Shinobu Fujiwara – 9
Showed significant improvement in ball handling around the ruck compared to the previous game against Canada.
10. Seungsin Lee – 8
Showed improvement in kicking game and performed calmly when filling in as full-back despite the lack of experience.
11. Malo Tuitama – 7
Made several gains and generated momentum when Japan played the “Cho-soku” (super-fast) game.
12. Nicholas McCurran – 7
Improved cohesions with Riley in their second match together.
13. Dylan Riley – 9
Not only was he instrumental in setting up the three first-half tries, but he also scored a try with his speed in the second half. Man of the Match.
14. Jone Naikabula – 8
Made an impact with his running and successful kick-charges showcasing his athleticism, until his injury.
15. Takuya Yamasawa – 6
Made his first start as a full-back under the current Japan team, and still adjusting to the team. Hoping for a strong performance to come.
Reserves
16. Mamoru Harada – 7 - Came on unexpectedly due to Sakate’s injury and immediately scored a try.
17. Takayoshi Mohara – 7 - Initially struggled with scrum penalties but gradually adapted to the game.
18. Shuhei Takeuchi – 8 - Though he didn’t display his trademark shouting, he demonstrated strength in the breakdowns.
19. Amato Fakatava – 7 - Returned to form and started his first match under Jones, maintaining his strength and running ability.
20. Isaiah Mapusua – 7 - Applied pressure to the opposition line-out.
21. Taiki Koyama – 8 - Came on as a finisher and sealed the game with strong defensive play.
22. Harumichi Tatekawa – 9 - Replaced Lee as fly-half and calmly managed the game, effectively guiding the team during a tense period.
23. Tomoki Osada – 8 - Maintained calm and error-free play in both attack and defense as usual.
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Latest Comments
They would improve a lot of such a scheme were allowed though JD, win win :p
Go to commentsI rated Lowe well enough to be an AB. Remember we were picking the likes of George Bridge above such players so theres no disputing a lot of bad decisions have been made by those last two coaches. Does a team like the ABs need a finicky winger who you have to adapt and change a lot of your style with to get benefit from? No, not really. But he still would have been a basic improvement on players like even Savea at the tail of his career, Bridge, and could even have converted into the answer of replacing Beauden at the back. Instead we persisted with NMS, Naholo, Havili, Reece, all players we would have cared even less about losing and all because Rieko had Lowe's number 11 jersey nailed down.
He was of course only 23 when he decided to leave, it was back in the beggining of the period they had started retaining players (from 2018 onwards I think, they came out saying theyre going to be more aggressive at some point). So he might, all of them, only just missed out.
The main point that Ed made is that situations like Lowe's, Aki's, JGP's, aren't going to happen in future. That's a bit of a "NZ" only problem, because those players need to reach such a high standard to be chosen by the All Blacks, were as a country like Ireland wants them a lot earlier like that. This is basically the 'ready in 3 years' concept Ireland relied on, versus the '5 years and they've left' concept' were that player is now ready to be chosen by the All Blacks (given a contract to play Super, ala SBW, and hopefully Manu).
The 'mercenary' thing that will take longer to expire, and which I was referring to, is the grandparents rule. The new kids coming through now aren't going to have as many gp born overseas, so the amount of players that can leave with a prospect of International rugby offer are going to drop dramatically at some point. All these kiwi fellas playing for a PI, is going to stop sadly.
The new era problem that will replace those old concerns is now French and Japanese clubs (doing the same as NRL teams have done for decades by) picking kids out of school. The problem here is not so much a national identity one, than it is a farm system where 9 in 10 players are left with nothing. A stunted education and no support in a foreign country (well they'll get kicked out of those countries were they don't in Australia).
It's the same sort of situation were NZ would be the big guy, but there weren't many downsides with it. The only one I can think was brought up but a poster on this site, I can't recall who it was, but he seemed to know a lot of kids coming from the Islands weren't really given the capability to fly back home during school xms holidays etc. That is probably something that should be fixed by the union. Otherwise getting someone like Fakatava over here for his last year of school definitely results in NZ being able to pick the cherries off the top but it also allows that player to develop and be able to represent Tonga and under age and possibly even later in his career. Where as a kid being taken from NZ is arguably going to be worse off in every respect other than perhaps money. Not going to develop as a person, not going to develop as a player as much, so I have a lotof sympathy for NZs case that I don't include them in that group but I certainly see where you're coming from and it encourages other countries to think they can do the same while not realising they're making a much worse experience/situation.
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