Wales 24-23 Japan: Jarrod Evans hits the target as Steve Tandy’s side steal it at the death

By Roger Panting

Wales ………………………….24pts

Tries: Edwards 5, Rees-Zammit 49, Tompkins 62

Conversions: Edwards 5, 49, 62

Penalty: Evans 82

Japan …………………………. 23pts

Tries: Ishida 14, Makisi 59

Conversions: Lee 14, 59

Penalties: Lee 48, 53, 65

An 83rd-minute penalty from replacement Jarrod Evans deprived Japan of a deserved first victory in Wales in a dramatic finish.

With less than a minute remaining, Wales staged a break-out from inside the opposition 22 and on halfway, Alex Mann was met by a thunderous no-arms tackle from Japanese debutant, Harry Hockings.

The crowd bayed for Hockings’ blood and a yellow card was issued, which gave the home side the momentum they needed to secure an attacking platform and when Japan were penalised, Evans, who had been on the field for less than five minutes, made no mistake with a tricky kick.

Evans said: “I’m overwhelmed and very relieved as we had to go from goal-line to goal-line to get our chance, but the boys showed composure to set up the chance for me to win it.”

Celebrate

As a result, Wales were able to celebrate victory in their 800th Test match and pick up their first Test win in Cardiff since August 2023.

Furthermore, their success guaranteed them a more favourable World Cup draw as they were able to stay in 12th place and ahead of Japan in the World Rugby rankings.

Wales were fortunate winners as Japan provided most of the thrills and would surely have won had they not lost three forwards to the sin-bin and Seungsin Lee not missed two penalties.

The interplay between their backs and forwards in terms of attack put their counterparts to shame with their powerful No 8, Faulua Makisi, the outstanding performer and he was well supported by flanker Jack Cornelsen and veteran skipper, Warner Dearns.

In the backs, Naoto Saito was a live-wire scrum-half with their back three being constant thorns in the Welsh defence.

In contrast, very few of the Welsh players enhanced their reputation.

Hard-working forwards, Mann and Olly Cracknell, deserve a mention, but only Dan Edwards and Louis Rees-Zammit provided any flair to a static back division.

Tomos Williams had one of his quieter games, and consideration has to be given to introducing more combative centres, possibly Johnny and Keiran Williams, as the Welsh midfield trio seem obsessed with shipping the ball along, and for the second game in a row, it didn’t pay any dividends.

Hero: Jarrod Evans, centre, celebrates his late winner for Wales
PICTURES: Getty Images

Match action

Wales had an early opportunity for three points with a straightforward kick at goal, but they opted for a driving lineout, and it proved the correct call when Edwards slipped out of a tackle before evading two defenders to score.

Japan soon responded with a superb try. Dylan Riley and Kenji Sato both made telling bursts before the ball was recycled and sped along the line for Kippei Ishida to fly over in the corner.

Japan could easily have scored two more tries in the opening quarter.

First, Makisi just failed to grasp a cross-field kick with the line at his mercy before Yoshitaka Yazaki sailed through the defence, and it took an excellent tackle from Edwards to keep the Welsh line intact.

The visitors received a setback when their lock, Epineri Uluiviti, was yellow-carded for a high challenge on Mann, but they should have taken the lead only for Lee to miss with a 40m penalty attempt.

Ill-discipline continued to haunt the Japanese, and they went down to 13 when Makisi was sin-binned for a high challenge on Edwards.

Rees-Zammit tried to take advantage of the numerical superiority with one electric burst, but he lost possession in the tackle, and Japan could easily have been ahead at the interval.

But Lee’s penalty rebounded back off a post after Josh Adams had been sin-binned for shouldering a prone player.

Winging in: Louis Rees-Zammit goes over

Second half

During the interval, the card for Adams was upgraded to a red and for the restart, both Japan forwards returned from the sin-bin and in time to see Lee put them in front with a penalty.

Wales changed three forwards in search of a response and it was immediate with Rees-Zammit rewarding some sustained pressure.

Edwards converted from the touchline, but a penalty from Lee and a converted close-range try from Makisi gave Japan a six-point lead going into the final quarter.

Nick Tompkins replaced Adams, and with his first touch, he forced his way over, but a third penalty from Lee kept Japan’s noses ahead until Evans’ late effort saved Wales’ bacon.

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