Argentina secured their place in the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with an exciting win against Japan. Eight tries were scored in this ding-dong battle, which ended in a 39-27 win for Argentina. Argentina will play Wales in the first quarterfinal on Saturday 14 October at 17:00.
Santiago Chocobares cut through the defence to score Argentina's first try within one minute of the start of the match to lead 07-00.
A try that will be remembered for a long time followed when Japanese lock Amato Fakatava received the ball out wide in his own half, kicked the ball forward and collected his own kick to score in the corner. Fakatava's brilliance levelled the score at 07-07.
A brilliant counterattack from an aimless kick by Japan, spearheaded by Gonzalo Bertranou, ended with winger Mateo Carreras scoring in the corner. Argentina led 12-07 after twenty-nine minutes of play in the first half.
Argentina kept the scoreboard ticking with a converted penalty by Emiliano Boffelli to lead 15-07 and five minutes to play in the first half.
Japan struck two minutes later, after being restored to fifteen players with a brilliant try by Naoto Saito who ran a brilliant support line. With time almost up Argentina led 15-14.
The ding-dong battle continued in the second half. After six minutes of play, Mateo Carreras scored his second try for Argentina to extend their lead to 22-14.
Rikiya Matsuda added a penalty for Japan with thirty minutes to play and shortly thereafter fullback Lomano Lemeki converted a dropgoal to reduce Argentina's lead to 22-20.
Argentina struck back almost immediately with Emiliano Boffelli going over in the corner to extend Argentina's lead to 29-20.
The action continued until Jone Naikabula scored Japan's third try with fourteen minutes still to play. Not to be outdone Argentina's Mateo Carreras scored his third try of the match almost immediately following the Naikabula try.
Nicolas Sanchez converted a long-distance penalty to extend Argentina's lead to 39-27 with five minutes to go. Despite Japan's desperate efforts during the final minutes, Argentina secured a 39-29 win.
Scorers:
Japan: Tries: Amato Fakatava, Naoto Saito, Jone Naikabula. Conversions: Rikiya Matsuda (3). Penalty: Rikiya Matsuda. Drop Goal: Lomano Lemeki.
Argentina: Tries: Santiago Chocobares, Mateo Carreras (3), Emiliano Boffelli. Conversions: Emiliano Boffelli (3), Nicolas Sanchez. Penalty: Emiliano Boffelli (2).
Teams:
Japan: 1 Keita Inagaki, 2 Shota Horie, 3 Jiwon Gu, 4 Jack Cornelsen, 5 Amato Fakatava, 6 Michael Leitch, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 8 Kazuki Himeno (c), 9 Naoto Saito, 10 Rikiya Matsuda, 11 Siosaia Fifita, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 13 Dylan Riley, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 15 Lomano Lemeki. Replacements: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Craig Millar, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Warner Dearns, 20 Amanaki Saumaki, 21 Yutaka Nagare, 22 Ryohei Yamanaka, 23 Jone Naikabula.
Argentina: 1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Guido Petti Pagadizabal, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 15 Juan Cruz Mallia. Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy,
17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Pedro Rubiolo, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Matías Moroni.