Bonus win for Japan

Japan launched Asia’s first Rugby World Cup with a victory the host nation craved as they beat Russia 30-10 at Tokyo Stadium.

Four years after causing the World Cup’s biggest shock by beating South Africa, Japan again took centre stage.

They were made to work hard by an unheralded Russian outfit. Making a first appearance on rugby union’s global stage since 2011, Russia led for most of the first half following wing Kirill Golosnitskiy’s early try, but hat-trick hero Kotaro Matsushima sparked Japan into life.

The wing claimed a try double before the break, then flanker Lappies Labuschagne dealt Russia a major blow with an opportunist touchdown early in the second half.

Matsushima secured a bonus point when he completed his hat-trick 11 minutes from time, while fly-half Yu Tamura kicked two penalties and a conversion, with Rikiya Matsuda converting the final try.

Russia could not add to Golosnitskiy’s try, apart from Yury Kushnarov’s conversion and penalty as Japan confirmed a winning start in Pool

A – a group that includes Scotland and Ireland.

Japan head coach Jamie Joseph said: “The game was a challenge for us and the boys were nervous.

“We said before the game t is all about expectation and the guys always prepare well, but you realise just how much pressure there is on the guys and we’re proud of the way they came through in the end.

“We made a lot of unforced errors.

“Our kicking game was pretty poor so we’re going to fix it up quickly,” he said.

“But you really take your hat off to the Russians, they really took it up to us and they really put us under a lot of pressure. You’ve got to congratulate them.”

Russia captain Vasily Artemyev took some heart from his side’s display.

He said: “You could see throughout the game we stuck to our game plan.”