The United States loses to Japan but its Rugby World Cup hopes remain alive

SACRAMENTO (AP) — The United States’ path to the 2027 Rugby World Cup now leads through a playoff match against Samoa next weekend after it lost 47-21 to Japan Saturday in the final pool match in the Pacific Nations Cup.

Japan finished at the top and USA at the bottom of Pool B in the six-team PNC tournament. Fiji beat Samoa 29-15 earlier Saturday to finish atop Pool A.

Fiji will play Canada and Japan will face Tonga in semifinals next weekend in Denver, Colorado while the United States will play Samoa for fifth and sixth places. The top five teams qualify for the World Cup in Australia.

Japan and Fiji had qualified prior to the Pacific Nations Cup. The other semifinalists and the winner of the playoff for fifth also will qualify while the sixth-placed team will go into a regional playoff against a South American team.

The United States, ranked 18th, faced almost a mission impossible Saturday to beat Japan with a bonus point and by a wide margin to displace Canada from the semifinals. Canada beat the USA in the first round of the tournament.

The United States put up a good fight despite conceding four first-half tries, scoring two tries of its own before halftime, both through powerful hooker Kapeli Pifeleti. Japan led 28-14 at halftime.

After conceding three more tries in the second half, the United States showed pluck to score the last try of the match through replacement Payton Telea.

“This is just another step forward for us. Obviously, not the result we wanted but it’s a step ahead of the performance we had against Canada,” United States captain Jason Damm said.

“The most important step is the next one so we just have to keep going forward, leave the past in the past, take the learnings from it, apply them and keep pouring energy into what we do.”

Japan’s set piece dominates

The strength of Japan’s set piece was a key factor in the match. It packed a powerful scrum in which tighthead Shuhei Takeuchi was a dominant figure and used a number of lineout variations.

Backrowers Ben Gunter and Amato Fakatava scored on the short side of surging scrums and captain Werner Dearns rounded a lineout to score in the first half. Kanji Shimokawa ensured all three starting backrowers touched down when he scored at the end of a backline counter-attack.

Fakatava and Dearns completed doubles in the second half. Fakatava scored off flyhalf Seungsin Lee’s long pass and Dearns found no-one home on the short side after quick phase ball.

Winger Kippei Ishida got one for the backline, scoring Japan’s seventh try with 10 minutes remaining. Seungsin Lee kicked six of seven conversions.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby