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England Hammers Japan to Spoil the Return of Eddie Jones as Brave Blossoms Coach

Jones fielded a largely young and inexperienced side and England scored eight tries against the Brave Blossoms for a one-sided win at National Stadium.

Published

3 months ago

June 22, 2024

Jim Armstrong

Henry Slade scores England's fourth try in a 52-17 victory over Japan on June 22, 2024, at Tokyo's National Stadium. (Issei Kato/REUTERS)

Read the full story on SportsLook - England Hammers Japan to Spoil the Return of Eddie Jones as Brave Blossoms Coach

England scored four tries on either side of the break on Saturday, June 22 en route to a 52-17 win over Japan in the return of Eddie Jones as coach of the Brave Blossoms.

Jones, in his first match in charge in his second stint with Japan, fielded a largely young and inexperienced rugby side. And it was apparent from the outset against a strong England team.

"It was a pretty tough game for us today," Jones said, according to The Guardian. "England are a strong, powerful team, but I was really pleased with our set piece work. We've been working on little things in our attack which created opportunities, but we weren't able to finish them."

Japan got on the scoreboard first thanks to a Seungsin Lee penalty two minutes into the match at Tokyo's National Stadium. But the lead was short-lived.

Chandler Cunningham-South scored the first of four first-half tries in the 14th minute as the visitors seized the momentum on their way to a 26-3 lead at halftime.

Alex Mitchell ran in England's fifth try three minutes after the break to make it 31-3. Ben Earl crossed in the 50th minute as the visitors widened their advantage to 38-3.

Brave Blossoms Score Their First Try in the 65th Minute

Marcus Smith was sent to the sin bin for an early tackle in the 55th and Japan's first try by Koga Nezuka ten minutes later cut the lead to 45-8.

That gave the Brave Blossoms some life and Takuya Yamasawa crossed four minutes later to reduce the deficit to 45-15. Rikiya Matsuda scored the extras but that would be all the scoring for the hosts.

Sam Underhill scored the eighth try for England in the 77th and Henry Slade added two points to complete the scoring.

The only blemish for England was the dismissal of lock Charlie Ewels for a dangerous clear-out in the 73rd minute.

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