(Salt Lake City) Noah Tarrant scored three tries including the 76th-minute game winner to pace United States Under-20 to an electrifying 37-33 win over Japan and the 2012 Junior World Rugby Trophy.
Falling behind 14-0 after 19 minutes, the hosts responded with 5 tries and a penalty but needed an injury-time defensive stand to clinch Saturday's affair. The high-altitude, 95-degree final was the more interesting for pitting Japan's efficiency against an American side which sought to bludgeon its opposition before sending the ball wide.
'We tried to suck in the defense. We thought one on one we had some advantages and wanted to create space', US coach Scott Lawrence explained afterward.
The title win earns the US promotion to 2013's Junior World Championship -- international age-grade rugby's first division. Capping a 4-0 JWRT campaign plus two May wins over Canada, Saturday's victory is arguably USARFU's finest representative achievement since 2005.
For the first half hour, it looked unlikely. Expertly steered by flyhalf Jumpei Ogura and fullback Rikiya Maatsuda and clearing breakdowns with lightning speed, the Japanese controlled territory and seemed to threaten in most every phase.
At 9 minutes, Ogura set up the game's initial score, by wing Seiyu Kohara, with a double cut-out pass. Then, after Kohara's second time over the try line was disallowed for a forward pass, Ogura himself darted through the US defense in the channel between a lineout maul and the backline.
Wing Yutaro Murai seemed sure to score down the left sideline in the 31st minute, but was halted inside the 25 by halfback Nick Boyer.
Whether it was Boyer's come-from-nowhere tackle or the charmed bounce of a high ball dropped into the arms of pursuing US center Tua Laei, who raced 55 yards untouched for the America's first tally at 34 minutes, momentum looked to swing at the half-hour mark.
At 39 minutes Hughes booted a penalty goal, atoning for an earlier miss, just ahead of Tennant's first try, on the left sideline 2 minutes into injury time. Assisted by flanker Alex Goff and Laei, the five-pointer was important not only because it gave the US its initial lead, 15-14 at intermission, but also because Tanner Barnes' right-side break marked the first time the American backs had skinned their opposites.
Center Shunsuke Nunomaki again broke the channel defense to open the second-half scoring, in the first of 6(!) second-half lead changes.
The visitors immediately looked like widening their advantage, driving to inside the 5. But the US snaffled possession and raced out to near the 25, where the counterattack continued through Hughes, whose acrobatic offload sent Tarrant down the left sideline.
The swing may have been the play of the game. The tryline stand foreshadowed the conclusion, while Tarrant's opportunistically feinting the touchdown before moving a dozen yards closer to the sticks, to ease the conversion, also would prove vital in the game's dying moments.
Number eight Yoshitaka Tokunaga struck back at 54 minutes, dotting a simple pickup from scrummage to make the count 28-22. Kingsley McGowan replied almost immediately, taking a pass from the counterattacking Hughes to race through 3 defenders and past another.
Following a water break -- incomprehensibly denied by referee Jerome Garces during last week's equally warm senior match against Italy in Houston -- the US dropped a second consecutive restart and Kohara flew through the defense for his second try, converted by Maatsuda.
Hughes brought the US to within a point, 33-32, after 72 minutes, rewarding persistent forward rushes that now included replacement Mike Te'o, who had scored a pair in Tuesday's Russian win.
Finally came Tennant's hat trick, preceded by a Laei break to the line, yet another forward barrage, and quick hands through the backline.
Yet the Americans could not close out the match, turning over a ball in the backline, and so began a stand that carried 9 minutes into stoppage time (counting the 2 1/2-minute water break). The US made tackle after tackle, conceding but one penalty in the 84th minute (impressively, their first of the final quarter). Japan was forced to run it, ultimately to no avail.
The heart-breaking defeat consigned Japan to a third consecutive runnerup finish in the five-year-old tournament.
For the US, the denounement deserves consideration among some the senior team's more important nail-biters: 2009's Rugby World Cup qualifying win over Canada in Charleston, 2002's RWCQ victory over the Uruguay in San Francisco, or even 1998's goalline finish against the Teros in Buenos Aires, which clinched a berth in the 1999 world championship. At the end of 4 matches in 13 days, in weather close to being too hot to play at all, such was the caliber of the championship stand.
United States Under-20 37 Japan Under-20 33
United States
Tries: Noah Tarrant (3), Tua Laei, Kingsley McGowan
Conversions: Madison Hughes (3)
Penalties: Madison Hughes (2)
Madison Hughes; Kingsley McGowan, Tanner Barnes, Tua Laei, Noah Tarrant; Will Magie (captain), Nick Boyer; Travis Whitock, Cameron Falcon, Henry Hall, Nick Barrett, Pierce Dargan, Glen Thommes, Alex Goff, Tom O'Hara
Reserves: Not available
Japan
Tries: Seiyu Kohara (2), Jumpei Ogura, Shunsuke Nunomaki, Yoshitaka Tokunaga
Conversions: Rikiya Maatsuda (4)
Rikiya Matsuda; Seiyu Kohara, Yonghwi Kim, Shunsuke Nunomaki, Yutaro Murai; Jumpei Ogura (captain), Yutaka Nagare; Kengo Kitagawa, Raiko Katsuki, Kanta Higashionna, Kazuhiko Usami, Shinya Osugi, Takuya Ishibashi, Hayato Nishiuchi, Yoshitaka Tokunaga
Reserves: Not available
Referee: Razvan Iordachescu (Romania)
Attendance: 2,300 (estimate)
Who's estimating that attendance? It's a 4,000-seat stadium, and it certainly looked more full than 2,300.
Posted by: Delusional College Rugby | 02 July 2012 at 08:53
One of the best, most disciplined, gutsy performances by a US rugby team in 35 years of watching.
Posted by: Just a thought | 02 July 2012 at 10:33
I see the highlights are on youtube. Does anyone know if the full match is available anywhere?
Posted by: Sergeant Hulka | 02 July 2012 at 11:09
I have the whole match, I can post each half on youtube along with the highlights that I have already posted. There were some issues with buffering, so I will try to edit those issues out. I'll put on the USAEaglesRugby youtube site later tonight.
Posted by: M.O. | 02 July 2012 at 12:53
KSL.com and DesNews.com should have the full match on replay as they did it live.
Posted by: KSL & Desnews | 02 July 2012 at 13:56
They don't have replays available, it was only a live stream. Thanks in advance, M.O. for posting, I'll check it out.
Posted by: Sergeant Hulka | 02 July 2012 at 14:46
Just found the site (click through on my avatar) with some replays. None yet of the finals, but maybe they'll post it later.
Posted by: Sergeant Hulka | 02 July 2012 at 14:59
Here is the full first half:
http://youtu.be/OOUTcDwuYPc
Posted by: M.O. | 02 July 2012 at 17:02
Here is the full second half:
http://youtu.be/O5WVHNHw6lk
Posted by: M.O. | 02 July 2012 at 17:31
One, if not the best rugby matches I have watched. Gutsy performence by both teams.
Posted by: Shooter the Dog | 02 July 2012 at 18:42
Thank you, Kurt, for this excellent and thoughtful write-up. This exposition of the match is dramatically better than those on either USAR or Rugbymag.com. I know that you're not under quite the same time pressure as the others, but, I must say, it's worth waiting for. I attended the match but was busy taking stills, so some details elude me as I can't see the forest for the trees when I'm seeing the game through a 400mm lens.
Thank you for maintaining this site and your contribution to rugby here in the U.S.
Posted by: Paul Meyers | 02 July 2012 at 18:54
Considering that when the USA steps up to the JWC they will be facing players that are either playing in the top men's club competition or are in a pro team academy (Top 14, Super 15, Aviva, Rabo 12, etc) they will struggle. Best case scenario is that they can hold of Samoa and Fiji and stay in the competition for the next year.
This highlights one of the main problems with rugby in the USA. The college rugby competition is very very weak and young players from the USA will always be at a disadvantage.
Posted by: Beagles | 02 July 2012 at 19:40
Beagles, don't be an a##. It's the same issue with all nations competing in the JWRT. It has less to do with any college competition and more to do with rugby not being very high on the sports totem pole in the USA.
Posted by: Sergeant Hulka | 02 July 2012 at 20:39
Thx Paul for kind words. FWIW, it was written yesterday on the plane home but I had some fact-checking to do and also was hoping to get player substitutions. Alas...
While there are moments when the two teams play defense more like Super Rugby than the Heineken Cup, if you are an American rugby fan you should watch MO's work
Posted by: kurt oeler | 02 July 2012 at 20:49
Italy has been promoted and relegated a few times the past few years so whatis the big deal. What is good to kmow, is that we played well, we played in June and not april as is most JWRT tournaments. The Top Tier will play in June as well, we will have had sucessive funding of our HSAA like we have never prior, we have scouting and guys in camp training and in competition and many new athletes coming to our game with solid athletic credentials, this is all good. Is any of our domestic competitions good enough to play the top tiers where they have professional contracts to aspire.....we have the hope that there will be 10 or 12 Collegiate programs that run as a varsity program with School support. This is our path as the reality is it will be longer for us to get a pro league set up here in the USA rather than 10-20 life/davenport/lindenwood/ ect. Ect.
Posted by: Craig | 02 July 2012 at 21:53
@Sergeant Hulka
If you want to call people names, I suggest you STFU and don't post a reply.
Posted by: Beagles | 02 July 2012 at 22:48
Beagles - you really just don't get it do you? You are comfortable pointing out the negative and have no understanding about what this achievement may signal.
This is NOT aboaut how they will do next year. It is about a process that is fueled by the undeniable growth and development of the game in the US. Five years from now this may be looked on as a turning point in US rugby.
There were players out there that definitely look like they will have the ability to step up to another level and contribute to US rugby long term. And the skill level of play was very high - very good athletes playing a very high standard of rugby against excellent opposition.
There is nothing but good news out of this story ..
Posted by: I played drek rugby - and loved it | 03 July 2012 at 04:43
AMEN!!!!!!! "I played drek rugby" and please lets keep douing what we all are doing: supporting rugby at the youth level, so HSAA and the U20 will have more kids to work with. The U20 kids were just amazing.
Posted by: hs coach | 03 July 2012 at 05:41
It was the greatest win in the history of rugby. These young men deserve the same treatment as any sports champion, a meet and greet at the White House with the President. ESPN should already have a 30 for 30 episode in production and it should play on a loop on a new ESPN channel (ESPNU20 maybe) for the rest of time. A film of this match should be launched in space so that other life forms can enjoy the accomplishment.
How is that? You're the ones that don't get it. The USA has been floundering for decades because the leadership can't handle reality. Enjoy your year and expect massive defeats in France at the 2013 JWC.
Posted by: Beagles | 03 July 2012 at 07:42
The U-20's did a great job. I'm pretty sure this is the USA first international tournament win since the Women's World Cup in 1992.
Sorry to hurt your feelings, beagles. Especially since I have no idea who you are. For the record I said 'don't BE an a##.' I didn't say you WERE an a##. I'm at least giving you the benefit of doubt.
Posted by: Sergeant Hulka | 03 July 2012 at 07:57
Seems like a great result for the confidence of US rugby.
We should remember one aspect of this team and competition. The IRB pays for this competitions assembly and the players from the other teams aren't professionals just like our boys aren't.
This is as level of a playing field as the US will ever get.
At the next levels up professional administration is required to offer our team a chance at success and its not there. USAR can't develop players, they have no skills or resources to do so. Even if they just worked to fund development it would be an improvement but they can't because they are broke.
The only money USAR has is IRB grant money and dues money (mostly obtained from college kids). Therefore, the day this competition ended and the IRB stopped paying for flights, hotels, meals, etc. the USAR development of these players stopped.
By the time they come out the end of the pipeline as senior representative players they will have no chance. Pro's vs Joe's, with the pro's having years of elite development and the joe's having whatever their college or club could provide.
This is where even with their core work this USAR administration is so poor. In the many years Kevin Roberts as Chair and Nigel Melville as CEO have been in control of USAR we have continued to lose ground in this area. Falling world ranking, elimination of domestic rep rugby, elimination of A team, less camps, less matches, less funding has equaled a harder road for the senior team.
If USAR could improve its administrative leadership, we could build on these positive showings. Without such improvements. We will continue to be passed by lower ranked nations at the senior level.
Posted by: its not all blue sky | 03 July 2012 at 08:51
So when the U20s don't get relegated next year, how much crow will Beagles eat? I'd say there's probably a 2/3 or 3/4 chance that the US doesn't finish last in France.
Also, any news on that attendance correction/update? 2,300 seems like a low estimate in a stadium that seats 4,000 and looked nearly full on the webcast.
Posted by: Delusional College Rugby | 03 July 2012 at 08:54
You are too kind Hulka. Beagles simply is too slow to understand that the point of this is not whether they will or won't succeed at the top tier next year. They might very well find themselves relegated next year. But they have earned a right to find out if they have what it takes. Canada doesn't have that right, Japan doesn't have that right nor do any of the other participants .. the US boys earned that right!
These kids set a new standard for this age group and they played in a manner that demonstrated that the skill level has grown leaps and bounds. Ten years ago a U 20 team could not have done what they did and ten years from now they will be doing even better.
Posted by: I played drek rugby - and loved it | 03 July 2012 at 08:55
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Beagles is an Obama loving Commie!
It was a great game and if we can step up the physicality and play maybe a little more of a smashmouth style we have a good chance to be in the top 4 in France!
Posted by: EaglesMAN!!!! | 03 July 2012 at 09:08
So in the midst of record crowds, record playing numbers and the best on-field result in American rugby in a long, long time we still have such blind haters. Is everything perfect in American rugby? Of course not. But the constant complaining on here flies in the face of reality.
Posted by: Regal Eagle | 03 July 2012 at 11:48
Call three players - one from the Eagle camp, one from the U20 camp and one from the All American camp - and ask them a little bit about the terminology and pattern of play and you will hear basically the same things. That's just a sample of what you get when you have Americans coaching American players.
Happy Independence Day.
Posted by: Team America | 03 July 2012 at 12:59
@TM
This isn't true. You are either mistaken or lying.
In a funny way even if it was true, how long did it take Melville to get this to happen. Doesn't matter its false, these coaches don't use even vaguely similar approaches.
Posted by: lol | 03 July 2012 at 14:08
USA is the greatest country in the world. Nuff said.
Posted by: EaglesMAN!!!! | 03 July 2012 at 21:48
@beagles
Do you remember the guy who assumed he'd already lost and gave up without trying? Neither does anybody else.
Posted by: U20s were champs | 04 July 2012 at 08:32
U20 Eagles will get demolished at the next level, but nice win to get to the big show.
Posted by: HS Coach | 04 July 2012 at 09:32
The upside of Beagles and his fellow negoholics is that there are enough HS & College coaches who read this and other rugby forums AND understand the role they played in this victory. They like that feeling. They want more of it. And they remember that 10-15 years ago a bunch of other nay-sayers were stating with equal vim and vitriolic verbiage that the US would never have an U20s team that could perform at the level they did last week.
Keep it up Beagles! We'll enjoy proving your suppositions inaccurate. It may take a few years, but it'll happen eventually...
Posted by: Grant Cole | 04 July 2012 at 09:43
Yo Beagles!
I have a Colt 45 over here that says the U20 side's accomplishments is one of the best in USA Rugby history.
What do you say? Wanna debate this? Or are you another Obama loving pansy that hates America and wants the USA to be Socialist?
Posted by: Desert Eagle | 04 July 2012 at 10:28
It's the USA U-20 team, not the Republic Party U-20 team.
(I happen to lean your way politically, but let's make this about our young players and our rugby community and keep at least one website politics free.)
Posted by: It's about the rugby | 04 July 2012 at 12:58
leaning towards ignorance
Posted by: College | 04 July 2012 at 15:50
I love the USA, freedom, the military, rugby, and Obama.
I must be the outsider here.
Posted by: Viva los HSAAs!! | 04 July 2012 at 16:22
@Its' not all blue sky
You sir, are totally wrong about a few things.
The HSAA program has been funded by a sponsor for the last year. They toured South Africa last summer, and performed well against good competition. That trip cost the players nothing.
7 players from that team are now on the U-20s, and many started as 18/19yo.
This my friend, is development.
It could not happen if USAR did not have excellent administrators and coaches.
This year the HSAAs will tour South America, again, at no cost to the players. I assume that many of those players will advance to the the U-20s. In South America, they will play international matches against the Chilean, Uruguayan, and Argentinean u-18s. This will be invaluable to the players as they progress toward the JWRC.
Posted by: Viva los HSAAs!! | 04 July 2012 at 16:51
You Obama boot lickers make me sick.
Rugby is Republican. Period.
Posted by: Desert Eagle | 04 July 2012 at 19:05
Ha! Considering rugby has been a "counter culture" sport in the USA since the 60's, you have your facts wrong there Yosimitie Sam.
Rugby is for eceryone. YES! Even democrats!
Leave politics out of rugby. The two don't mix.
Posted by: D v R rugby | 05 July 2012 at 00:35
I want the U.S to do well but man only Americans can taint Rugby this way . Please stop thanks.
Posted by: Someone | 05 July 2012 at 00:49
@someone
It's strange isn't it. Surely its just some bored person(s) attempting to troll. If not, geez. It's a little sad.
Posted by: Working Class Rugger | 05 July 2012 at 04:08