Japan hold off Samoa comeback to seal England’s passage into quarter-finals

Japan remain firmly in the hunt for a place in the quarter-finals after taking advantage of Ben Lam’s red card and eventually seeing off a defiant Samoa side – sealing England’s passage into the knockout stages as pool winners in the process.

Tries from Michael Leitch, Pieter Labuschagne and Kazuki Himeno moved Japan up into second spot in the pool and teed up what is increasingly looking like a shootout for a place in the quarter-finals with Argentina next week.

Samoa may lament how Ben Lam’s yellow card for a dreadful tackle on Labuschagne was upgraded to red while the Japan hooker Shota Horie returned to the field after his high hit on Duncan Paia’aua, but that is the lottery that competing teams must contend with at this tournament. To their credit they battled manfully and ensured a nervous finish for Japan.

The upshot for England is that they are through with a game to spare – the second team to book their place in the knockout stages after Wales.

There have been harder World Cup pools but it is no mean feat considering their warm-up campaign. They will have to get through next Saturday’s match against a fired up Samoa with little to lose, however, before thoughts turn to the quarter-finals, where they are on a collision course with Fiji.

Both sides came into the match with one win – against Chile – and five points from two matches, but with Argentina lurking behind them. To harbour any realistic hopes of making the knockout stages, victory was a necessity. The last meeting between the two sides in July ended in a 24-22 win for Samoa. Though Japan’s talisman Leitch was sent off that day, it was evidence that the 2019 World Cup hosts have plateaued in the subsequent four years, while the Pacific Islanders are upwardly mobile.

Samoa’s task was all the more difficult, however, given they lost to Argentina and still have England to come, so it was little surprise they began with a greater sense of urgency. Steven Luatua is not a bad replacement but their cause was not helped by their captain, Chris Vui, dropping out of the side at late notice. They enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges but were dealt a considerable blow when the blindside flanker Taleni Junior Agaese Seu was forced off with an injury after only five minutes.

Pitching this contest as Japan’s diminutive runners against Samoa’s hard hitters is playing to stereotypes somewhat, given how both sides have looked to develop the supposed weaker sides of their game. That said, Japan’s opening try, was certainly a joy to watch – Labuschagne reaching out to dot down a well-worked move after 13 minutes.

Samoa came again, though. Firstly, Theo McFarland and Luatua combined well for a pre-planned lineout move but the ball went to ground as it went out to the backs, while Ben Lam would surely have been over on the left had he held on to Jonathan Taumateine’s lovely reverse pass. If he was dazzled by the scrum-half’s bleach-blond mullet, he was not the only one.

With Japan unable to clear their lines, D’Angelo Leuila got Samoa up and running with a penalty much closer in but Rikiya Matsuda responded in kind with the referee, Jaco Peyper, growing increasingly intolerant with the Pacific Islanders’ fast and loose approach to the breakdown. Indeed, they went from being unable to slow Japan’s ball legally to being unable to do so at all as another free-flowing move ended with Leitch – hovering out wide as he so often does – splashing over on the left. Taumateine was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle in the buildup for good measure.

Horie’s dangerous tackle restored parity, however, and Samoa got the try they so badly needed before the break with Christian Leali’ifano kicking to the corner and the hooker Seilala Lam credited with the try from the back of the driving maul.

After the break Taumateine and Horie – to some surprise – came back on to the field but just as the Japan hooker was returning, the Samoa wing Ben Lam was sent to the sin-bin after a high tackle on Labuschagne. When the Japan No 8, Himeno, went over from the driven lineout after the penalty was kicked to the corner, the writing was on the wall for Samoa. Only a few minutes later Peyper confirmed that Ben Lam would not be returning. Matsuda missed the conversion but added another penalty to stretch Japan’s lead.

Paia’aua finished off a second try for Samoa – just deserts for their endeavours on the night – and Christian Leali’ifano’s late score set up a grandstand final two minutes but they could not find the fourth try to complete a dramatic comeback.