England 43-12 Japan

England are top of Pool D after beating Japan 34-12 at Stade de Nice on Sunday.

The teams went into the break with England 13-9 ahead courtesy of Lewis Ludlam’s early score and the boot of Mastercard Player of the Match George Ford.

Japan fly-half Rikiya Matsuda added his fourth penalty soon after half-time to make it a one-point game, but Courtney Lawes hit back with England’s second try after the ball took a fortunate bounce off the head of prop Joe Marler.

Freddie Steward then got on the end of Ford’s precise cross-field kick to score in the corner, before Joe Marchant dived over for the bonus-point try in the final play as England made it two wins from two at Rugby World Cup 2023.

Mastercard Player of the Match George Ford said: “We’re just really happy with another win tonight. We knew it was going to be a tough game. They’re a great team, Japan, they challenge you in different ways.

“We knew it wouldn’t be until the third or fourth quarter until we could potentially pull away a bit. I’m just over the moon to get another win. Some improvements tonight, some things to get better at still.”

England captain Lawes added: “Full credit to Japan. We knew they were going to put up a fight and they certainly did that. The conditions are probably not as good as they look. It’s so greasy out there. The boys did well, we came away with five points so you can’t ask for much more.”

As for Marler’s ‘assist’, Lawes said: “I thanked him. A bit of luck – sometimes it falls in your favour. I’ll take it.”

With England now having two wins from two games, head coach Steve Borthwick said: “I’m really pleased for the players. I’m really pleased for the supporters here tonight. We’ve got a fantastic travelling support and they spend an awful lot of money to follow this team and we want to make sure they have good nights.

“Tonight it was really tough, we got a bonus point so we’re really pleased with that.”

Japan head coach Jamie Joseph said: “Really proud of my team. We created a lot of opportunities, we just made too many mistakes. England put us under a lot pressure but there were times in the first 16 minutes it was a real arm-wrestle – we just needed to capitalise on those opportunities and we weren’t quite able to.”

Captain Kazuki Himeno said: “I believe that we gave it part of what we planned to do but in the second half we had the unfortunate luck which gave up a try and allowed them to score more.

“We will need to take what we did well in terms of creating our game and put it into the second half. That was on one of the takeaways for us and needs improving. Tough games will continue so we need to completely improve that point.”

Lewis Ludlam, number eight

On the England performance:

“I don’t think we were 100 per cent with our performance. There are heaps there we can work on. But ultimately it is a great win for us as they are a fantastic side.

“It was a very different type of game to last week [against Argentina]. They made us work for our points, they made us run in the right areas of the pitch. We had to scramble at times and we were lucky that we were good enough to keep them out.”

On the second half having more fluency:

“Naturally as the game goes on a little bit more space opens up. The lads who came off the bench for us were fantastic in getting us to go forward.”

On if England are where they want to be in tournament:

“Results-wise maybe, performance-wise there are things to work on.”

On scoring England’s first try of Rugby World Cup 2023:

“I didn’t realise it was the first one. Good to get on the scoresheet and good for the confidence. I think we could have sneaked one earlier if we’d kept the ball, but it’s always nice to get on the scoresheet.”

On getting a bonus point:

“That’s massive for us. That extra point can go a long way in the later stages of the tournament. You never know when it is going to come in handy.”

Joe Marler, loose-head prop

On being told commentator Ben Kay described his ‘header’ for Courtney Lawes’ try as his best try assist of his career:

“It’s my only assist, isn’t it?

“I mean, I also haven’t ever scored a try. I hold the English record for most caps without a try.”

On whether he knew it was a try:

“I had no idea, if I’m honest, I didn’t know where I was. But it was planned. I’ve been practising my headers in activation with Dan Cole and Jamie George.

“I took a lot of inspiration from the mighty Seagulls – Brighton and Hove Albion – doing a demolition job on [Manchester] United, my son’s team [Brighton beat United 3-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday]. So I took inspiration from them and brought it into tonight’s game and I just found a way.”

On how England managed to break away from Japan in the second half:

“Once we actually managed to keep hold of the ball and not drop it, we were able to build some more pressure. But we knew that Japan would never give up. They live by their name of the Brave Blossoms. They just keep going.”

Ollie Chessum, second row

On making it two wins out of two at Rugby World Cup 2023:

“We’re happy with that. Tournament rugby, World Cup rugby, is about winning games. You have to win games and we’re happy with that. There are things we have to work on.

“We will take the learnings from tonight, apply them this week in training and take that into the game against Chile, which we’re looking forward to.”

Maro Itoje, second row

On England’s performance:

“Japan are a tough team and they took a while to crack. They played a style of rugby that is very exciting and they are a tough, well-coached team so it took us a while to break them down. But we did.

“Our discipline was better than it was last week. It’s another step in the right direction for us.

“In the second half there was a lot more fluency in our performance. They had taken a while to break down.

“The conditions were difficult and it was difficult to keep your hands on the ball. We just had to deal with it.”

On getting two wins out of two:

“We’re happy with our start. As always there are things to improve but we will move forward in a positive way.”

George Ford, fly-half

On Japan:

“Massive congratulations to Japan on the performance. We knew they would come with a tactical plan, which caused us many problems, but I’m proud of the way the boys stuck at what was our plan.

“Getting the bonus point in those conditions, we’re really happy.”

On two wins out of two:

“It’s a good start, but it’s only a start. We want to build momentum, win games. We’ve gone back-to-back now and we want to do that again next week.

“We’re not in a position to look beyond the next game. We have got Chile next week so it’s another opportunity to have another great week. Then we’ll have a few days down.

“Our aim is to focus on the here and now and that means Chile.”

On which Japan players impressed him:

“I was impressed with the way they caused a bit of chaos with little kicks from the 9 and 10 – chips over the top – and defensively they were very good. The whole team put lots of pressure on us.”

On his left-footed kick for Freddie Steward’s try:

“We practise a lot. When you’ve got Freddie Steward who is tall and can finish, we just need to put it in the right areas for him and thankfully it came off.”

On if the performance against Japan was better than against Argentina:

“It was good in different ways and there was some improvement from us tonight. But you can’t underestimate how difficult it is to play in those conditions.

“It doesn’t look like it from the TV or the stands but I promise you it’s very difficult. It was sweaty and clammy and you have got to be really clever in the way you play and more often than not we made the right decision.”

Steve Borthwick, head coach

On the performance:

“The players did tremendously well to get the result. In the end the players found a way. In these conditions it’s challenging. The Japan team kicked the ball 37 times today. When does Japan do that?

“The players found a way of scoring four tries. We felt that last quarter was where we needed to accelerate and the boys did that.”

On the Japan team:

“The Japan team tonight played what I thought was incredibly smart and unorthodox rugby. The use of the attacking kick, kicks over the ruck, kicks behind the defensive line, Ive not seen Japan use it to that extent and I thought they did that tremendously well.

“There were a couple of bounces of the ball that we had to fight very hard for. It’s a very good Japanese team, they are clearly very well coached.”

On only having nine months as head coach to prepare for the World Cup:

“I think that having the full coaching team together for this summer has been an opportunity for us to work as hard as we can to make ground quickly.

“You’ve seen strides in some of the fundamental aspects of the game. You’ve seen growth in our attack. It’s always the way that you build the fundamentals through defence, your kicking game, your set-piece and your breakdown, and the attack always takes the longest to come because it takes cohesion.

“Some [coaching] teams have had eight years with the same coaching team to build through that and we’ve had three or four months with our full coaching team in place.

“We’re working exceptionally hard every day to move forward.”

On whether perceptions of the England team might change with the two wins in two games at Rugby World Cup 2023:

“That’s never been my opinion of the team. I believe I’ve got a group of players, led by a man next to me [Courtney Lawes], who know what it is to perform on the big stage.

“We still have a lot of growth in us. Players of quality are going to start coming back. Owen Farrell becomes available next week. Tom Curry will become available the following week. I said the team is preparing for the tournament, they have immense quality throughout it, they want to perform on the biggest of stages and the boys showed that tonight.”

On the problem of Owen Farrell’s return from suspension coinciding with George Ford playing so well:

“You describe it as a problem. I describe it as a fantastic squad of players that I have the privilege to work with, strength in depth across the squad. I think a lot of countries would look on it in an envious manner.

“We build towards Chile next Saturday. I expect there to be another huge English contingent in the crowd. Those supporters out there were outstanding. We are very fortunate to have them.

Courtney Lawes, flanker and captain

On being assisted by a fortuitous header by Joe Marler for his try:

“It was a good bit of luck for us in these conditions. I saw it ricochet off his head. I was pretty sure it had gone backwards and then came off his head. I had a good idea it was going to get given.”

On the conditions:

“You can feel the ball spinning out your hands even before you’ve made contact. It’s hot, humid, it makes for a wet-weather game .

“I think we showed in glimpses how good our attack can be. Hopefully late on in the competition we’ll be firing on all cylinders.”

George Ford, Mastercard Player of the Match

On his thoughts on the game:

“We’re just really happy with another win tonight. We knew it was going to be a tough game. They’re a great team, Japan, they challenge you in different ways.

“We knew it wouldn’t be until the third or fourth quarter until we could potentially pull away a bit. I’m just over the moon to get another win. Some improvements tonight, some things to get better at still.”

On what he thought of the performance:

“It was probably not the prettiest watching it. It’s really hard to play with the ball in these conditions. These late kick-offs, the ball is greasy. You’ve got to find ways to break a team down but we got there in the end.”

Courtney Lawes, flanker and captain

On the hard-fought contest:

“Full credit to Japan. We knew they were going to put up a fight and they certainly did that. The conditions are probably not as good as they look. It’s so greasy out there. The boys did well, we came away with five points so you can’t ask for much more.”

On thanking Joe Marler for his assist in the try, when the ball bounced off his head:

“I thanked him. A bit of luck – sometimes it falls in your favour. I’ll take it.”

On the team perhaps playing with more freedom:

“We wanted to play some good rugby tonight. Conditions were pretty tough to move the ball in but you saw in parts what we can do. We’ll continue to work at it and hopefully by the time it comes to the quarter-finals we’ll be able to stick it. We’ll need to.”

Steve Borthwick, head coach

On two wins from two:

“I’m really pleased for the players. I’m really pleased for the supporters here tonight. We’ve got a fantastic travelling support and they spend an awful lot of money to follow this team and we want to make sure they have good nights.

“Tonight it was really tough, we got a bonus point so we’re really pleased with that.”

On decisions to make with Owen Farrell available and George Ford being man of the match twice:

“How great is it that we have such incredible depth in quality there? I think a lot of countries would want the quality we’ve got – at 10 and 15. Marcus [Smith] came on and was brilliant in that last quarter.”

On what’s next:

“The next step for the players is to enjoy this win because they worked hard for it – and the supporters will enjoy the win. We play Chile in six days’ time so we’ll recover, get a great plan and we’ll look forward to playing them.”

Kotaro Matsushima, winger

On the Courtney Lawes try:

“At that time we stopped playing, we thought it was a knock-on. We should have just kept playing.

“That definitely changed the game. It’s not them, it’s more us. We have to just learn from that and keep going.”

On England’s back three:

“We thought they were going to kick to our backfield. That’s pretty hard to defend, to defend the whole field because they kicked to right field and left field.”

On Japan’s development as a team:

“After today’s game a couple of boys will be more confident. It wasn’t a bad-looking loss, so we just keep going and play with confidence in the next two games and focus on the Samoa game.”

Lomano Lemeki, winger

On the disappointment of the defeat:

“We felt we were right in it. Even in the 65th minute when they scored it was 27-12 at that time, I still felt we were in it. We felt the momentum was changing.

“Matsushima made a break, we got all the way down there and we dropped the ball in their 22. Little things like that, against big teams – especially tier-one teams – if you don’t finish those chances, it just deflates your team. Especially our forwards, they were under the pump against a good pack.

“First half we had three chances, we just couldn’t execute and I think that’s how they came back to hit us in the end.”

On Japan’s development as a team:

“We’re definitely getting there. We’re getting bigger bodies now and more agile players. We’re moving in the right direction.

“We were focused on what they were going to try and do to us – big pack trying to bully – and I thought our boys were awesome today. It was just the finesse part that we are just missing at the moment.

“Once we did have England under the pump, we just had to put the foot down. We’d get there or thereabouts and cough it up. Big teams know how to squeeze you out with pressure. They eventually did in the end but I don’t think the scoreline reflects how tight the game was. It was a good game.”

On playing Samoa next, and then Argentina in their final game of the group stage:

“It’s a big game. It’s pretty much do or die now.

“We’ve got a 12-day turnaround, so we’ll just get away from footy for two days and refresh mentally. We’ll come back in and I’m sure Browny (assistant coach Tony Brown) will have a mastermind plan in place for us.

“We don’t need bonus points, we just need to win and beat Argentina.

“That’s what you live for – you love the pressure, you love the atmosphere.

“We’re just going to have to do it the hard way now. We win, we live to fight another day, if we lose we’ll go packing. We’ll save our best for these knockout games.”

Jamie Joseph, head coach

On starting well:

“I’m incredibly proud of the guys in terms of how they tried to execute our plan. There were parts of the game that surprised England in terms of the kicking game, we put them under a lot of pressure and created opportunities for us.

“What we learned from that is the opportunities we created, we didn’t take them. We made too many mistakes.

“They are an experienced test rugby side and over the course of time they were able to wear us down. That’s the nature of our game at the highest level. It’s disappointing for us, the boys put a lot of emotional effort into this week.

“We dealt with a lot of pressure, and that’s going to be crucial leading into the next two matches against Samoa and Argentina.”

On not taking their opportunities:

“We just made too may mistakes under the pump. A team like us from Japan, to take on a powerhouse like England, we’ve got to get all of this things right and we just didn’t do that. We paid the consequences for it.

“Guys made mistakes but we’re playing one of the best teams in the world at the World Cup. They players did their best to execute the plan, I thought it surprised England and created a little bit of pressure on them, but they’re a good side so they were able to adapt and come back at us.”

On the Courtney Lawes try:

“That’s a first for me, man. Wow.

“We just didn’t have any luck. We blew one here with an overthrow at the lineout, there was a juggling act there by Joe. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck as well, we never got any of that today. I guess that was a fair try. What more can you say really?”

Jamie Joseph, head coach

On Japan’s performance:

“Really proud of my team. We created a lot of opportunities, we just made too many mistakes. England put us under a lot pressure but there were times in the first 16 minutes it was a real arm-wrestle – we just needed to capitalise on those opportunities and we weren’t quite able to.”

On Japan’s heart:

“The heart of the team is really sound. We’ve got great leadership, a lot of experience, but it’s a sad lesson because you’ve got to create opportunities when they come.”

On the team having a break before their next game against Samoa on Thursday, 28 September:

“That’s important because we’ve been going since June. A couple of days off in the south of France – I’m sure the boys will enjoy it.”

Kazuki Himeno, captain

On the team’s performance and Courtney Lawes’ try:

“I believe that we gave it part of what we planned to do but in the second half we had the unfortunate luck which gave up a try and allowed them to score more.

“We will need to take what we did well in terms of creating our game and put it into the second half. That was on one of the takeaways for us and needs improving. Tough games will continue so we need to completely improve that point.”