Japan sent packing as USA end drought

Pool B / USA 39 Japan 26 : The United States broke a 16-year World Cup losing streak with a thrilling 39-26 win over Japan yesterday…

Pool B / USA 39 Japan 26: The United States broke a 16-year World Cup losing streak with a thrilling 39-26 win over Japan yesterday.

The Eagles claimed their first victory at the tournament since beating the Japanese in 1987, earning a hard-fought win in a mistake-riddled but entertaining match at Central Coast Stadium.

The Eagles led from early in the game, though the Japanese kept in touch until the dying minutes when they conceded two tries.

American flyhalf Mike Hercus orchestrated the win with a clever running and kicking game that brought him a try, four conversions and two penalties.

READ MORE

The Eagles made a flying start when Hercus scored a try on eight minutes after slicing through the defence with a simple dummy. Centre Phillip Eloff then beat three tacklers down the left to score a try that put the Eagles 14-0 ahead.

Japan replied with a try by Tora Kurihara after Andrew Miller put George Konia into a hole and the centre off-loaded to his winger.

Kurihara pulled the margin back to three points with a penalty but Hercus booted two more to give his team a 20-10 half-time lead.

Japan made a great start to the second half when Kurihara booted three long-range penalties to cut the deficit to a single point before the Eagles re-established a cushion when Kort Schubert crashed over.

Japan again pulled back to within a point when they scooped up a dropped pass from Eagles scrumhalf Kevin Dalzell and Daisuke Ohata sprinted down the right wing to score his 42nd test try.

There was still just one point in it with five minutes left when US winger Riaan van Zyl crossed the line and hooker Kirk Khasigian went over in the dying seconds.

The US play France on Friday but are out of the running for a quarter-final place after losing to Fiji and Scotland. The Japanese head home after losing all four pool games.

USA: P Emerick (J Buchholz, 44); D Fee, P Eloff, S Sika, R van Zyl; M Hercus, K Dalzell; M MacDonald, K Khasigian, D Dorsey (J Waasdorp, 79), G Klerck, L Gross, K Schubert, D Hodges (capt), D Lyle.

JAPAN: T Matsuda (H Onozawa, 39); D Ohata, G Konia, Y Motoki, T Kurihara; A Miller, Y Sonoda (T Tsuji, 78); S Hasegawa (M Yamamoto, 71), M Amino, M Toyoyama, H Kiso, A Parker, N Okubo, T Miuchi (capt), T Ito (Y Saito, 55).

Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand).