Debut try for Cokanasiga as England rally to avoid Japan upset
Joe Cokanasiga scored a debut try as England overcame an almighty scare to fight back and beat Japan 35-15 at Twickenham.
Eddie Jones challenged a much-changed team to “smash” his former side, but England were in danger of being humiliated when they trailed 15-10 at half-time on Saturday.
An enterprising Japan team were great value for their lead, Ryoto Nakamura and Michael Leitch scoring first-half tries, with England disjointed after Jones made 11 alterations to his starting line-up following the defeat to New Zealand.
Danny Care’s early try had put England in front but they lacked cohesion in a poor first-half display before raising their game following the introduction of Owen Farrell at the interval.
Mark Wilson’s first international try put them back in front, then Cokanasiga and Dylan Hartley went over as England finally clicked into gear with a clash against Australia to come next weekend.
George Ford, captain for his 50th cap, scored 12 points with the boot and Elliot Daly was on target with a long-range penalty in a first half which Japan dominated, but they were ultimately emphatically beaten.
It's full time at Twickenham and England have turned it around in the second half to beat Japan.#ENGvJPN #CarryThemHome ? pic.twitter.com/4V0sJEWq5w
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) November 17, 2018
England took just three minutes to take the lead with a blistering counter-attack, Daly, Cokanasiga and Jamie George combining down the left flank and Care darting away for an opening try after Yu Tamura failed to find touch.
Japan applied sustained pressure in a brilliant response, Tamura getting them on the board from the tee after they had opted against shots at goal in favour of set-pieces when scenting a try.
The Brave Blossoms were rampant and capitalised on their numerical advantage with George in the sin-bin for going off his feet after a careless pass from Care was intercepted.
Nakamura took a fine pass from Fumiaki Tanaka to burst through and go under the posts as England were caught out from a scrum and although Daly levelled with a long-range penalty, Japan were back in front with a second try just after the half-hour mark.
It was again a combination of inventive attacking and poor defending which gave the underdogs a half-time advantage, Leitch ploughing his way through Care and stepping past Daly all too easily before touching down after Chris Ashton was withdrawn due to injury.
Jones introduced Farrell at the break and Ford reduced the deficit to two points with his second penalty.
Japan were finally undone for a second time, Ford throwing a dummy and feeding the onrushing Wilson, who finished off a slick move just before the hour-mark after Care got rare quick ball.
Ford added the extras and was on target with another penalty before Richard Wigglesworth picked out Cokanasiga with an inviting pass, and the powerful young wing shrugged off a couple of tackles to score on his international bow.
Hartley dotted down when Japan failed to halt a driving maul to add gloss with Japan fading after causing England so many problems with a vibrant first-half display.
Comments on RugbyPass
Are the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
2 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
2 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to comments