JPN
	No.	Name
15William Tupou, FB
14Kotaro Matsushima, W T 3
13Timothy Lafaele, C
12Ryoto Nakamura, C
11Lomano Lemeki, W
10Yu Tamura, FH   2
9Yutaka Nagare, SH
1Keita Inagaki, P
2Shota Horie, H
3Asaeli Ai Valu, P
4Wimpie van der Walt, L
5James Moore, L
6Michael Leitch, FL
7Pieter Labuschagne, FL T
8Kazuki Himeno, N8
Replacements
16Atsushi Sakate, R
17Isileli Nakajima, R
18Jiwon Gu, R
19Luke Thompson, R
20Hendrik Tui, R
21Fumiaki Tanaka, R
22Rikiya Matsuda, R 
23Ryohei Yamanaka, R

RUSS
	No.	Name
15Vasily Artemyev, FB
14German Davydov, W
13Vladimir Ostroushko, C
12Dimitry Gerasimov, C
11Kirill Golosnitskiy, W T
10Yury Kushnarev, FH  
9Vasily Dorofeev, SH
1Valery Morozov, P
2Stanislav Selskii, H
3Kirill Gotovtsev, P
4Andrei Ostrikov, L
5Bogdan Fedotko, L
6Vitaly Zhivatov, FL
7Tagir Gadzhiev, FL
8Nikita Vavilin, N8
16Evgeny Matveev, R
17Andrei Polivalov, R
18Azamat Bitiev, R
19Andrey Garbuzov, R
20Anton Sychev, R
21Dmitry Perov, R
22Ramil Gaisin, R
23Vladislav Sozonov, R

*Players currently on the pitch are shown in bold

Game Info

Venue: Ajinomoto Stadium

6:45 AM, September 20, 2019

1952dReuters

Rugby World Cup hosts Japan overcome first-night nerves to see off Russia

Winger Kotaro Matsushima scored a hat-trick as Japan overcame a severe case of opening-night nerves to give the host nation a winning start to the Rugby World Cup.

Match Commentary

81'+1		30-10 End of second half
80'		And it's over! Japan score four tries to bring open the 2019 World Cup with a resounding win, despite early fears of an upset.
80'		Russia kick the ball out from a penalty at the Japan 22, rather than finish it. They're looking to finish with a try.

Match Stats

JPN

RUSS

50%

48%

52%

JPN

RUSS

141	Runs	112
653	Meters Run	289
16	Clean Breaks	11
134	Tackles	144
21	Missed Tackles	48
15	Turnover Knock On	11

Standings

Pool A
R	Team	GP	PD	P
1	FRA	4	+178	18
2	NZL	4	+206	15
3	ITALY	4	-67	10
4	URUG	4	-99	5
5	NAMIB	4	-218	0
Pool B
R	Team	GP	PD	P
1	IRE	4	+144	19
2	SA	4	+117	15
3	SCOT	4	+75	10
4	TONGA	4	-81	5
5	ROM	4	-255	0
Pool C
R	Team	GP	PD	P
1	WALES	4	+84	19
2	FIJI	4	+5	11
3	AUS	4	-1	11
4	POR	4	-39	6
5	GEO	4	-49	3
Pool D
R	Team	GP	PD	P
1	ENG	4	+111	18
2	ARG	4	+58	14
3	JPN	4	+2	9
4	SAMOA	4	+17	7
5	CHI	4	-188	0

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