Amato Fakatava and captain Warner Dearns both scored twice as Japan eased to a seven-try 47-21 win over USA, to book their semi-final place in Denver, Colorado, next weekend, and leave the Eagles facing a fifth-place play-off against Samoa.
Kapeli Pifeleti replied with a first-half double for the home team, but his side were under pressure from the start as Eddie Jones’s Japan combined high pace and heavy power to take a 28-14 lead into the break – and claim the try-scoring bonus.
Backrow Ben Gunter got the Brave Blossoms’ first, peeling round the short-side off a third-phase ruck, and holding off the outpowered defence of fly-half Christopher Hilsenbeck with 12 minutes on the clock.
Fakatava had the simple job of picking up the ball and putting it down again, as Japan’s scrum motored forwards from five metres out 10 minutes later. The visitors’ pack had the upper hand in the set-piece all game.
Dearns ploughed through four defenders en route to the line from a five-metre lineout for his first touchdown four minutes later.
Pifeleti crashed over to finally get USA on the scoreboard on the half-hour following a well-controlled build-up. His second, two minutes before the break, finished a similar period of patient close-range pressure.
But Japan scored once more between Pifeleti’s double. It was the try of the match, as high-speed precision interplay left the Eagles’ defence clutching at shadows. Flanker Kanji Shimokawa was in the right place to take the final pass.
Japan’s fifth came five minutes into the second period, as Japan upped the pace further. Number eight Fakatava found himself in open country out wide with a pinpoint long pass heading his way.
Dearns skirted round the outside of three defenders for his second score of the game just after the hour.
Winger Kippei Ishida finished a sweeping high-speed move 13 minutes from time, with USA down to 14 players after Christian Poidevin saw yellow for head contact in the tackle.
Replacement Payton Telea blasted over for the final word from a five-metre tap penalty, as the Eagles got deserved reward for their efforts.
First-time US captain Jason Damm saw positives in their performance in defeat: “It’s another step forward for us,” he told RugbyPass TV. “Obviously, it’s not the result we wanted but it’s a step ahead of the performance against Canada, so we’ll keep building on that energy and that work.”
Looking ahead to the play-off against Samoa, which has a golden ticket to Rugby World Cup 2027, he added: “The most important step is the next one, so we have to keep going forward, leave the past in the past and keep pouring energy into what we do.”
His coach Scott Lawrence, meanwhile, insisted there is more to come from his side. “This is a work in progress in terms of building the robustness we need to compete in the way we want to compete.”
Japan captain Dearns, meanwhile, wanted to focus on his side’s defensive efforts: “Our first 20 minutes we defended really well and got a lot of momentum. We want to keep that going on into the next games.”
He predicted more physical challenges ahead, as Japan go head-to-head with Tonga in next week’s semi-final in Denver – before heading to Salt Lake City the following weekend. “To win the next two games, we need our forwards to front up and have a really good game – I think we showed the last two games we played against Canada and the US, we did a good job.”
Japan will take on Tonga and Fiji face Canada in the Pacific Nations Cup semi-finals in Denver next weekend, while USA meet Samoa in the fifth-place play-off – with a Rugby World Cup 2027 place on the line.
Finals day, in Salt Lake City, Utah, a week later, will decide who will lift this year’s Pacific Nations Cup.
