San Francisco Frontiers - Japan rips Tonga to reach Pacific Nations Cup rugby final

Tries by Amato Fakatava, Hayate Era, Warner Dearns, Dylan Riley, Shinobu Fujiwara, Kenji Sato and Keijiro Tamefusa plus a penalty try in the 79th minute sparked Japan's triumph at Denver, Colorado.

The speedy Japanese led only 21-19 at halftime but were relentless in scoring five second-half tries to dispatch Tonga.

"We just needed to defend better around the ruck," Japan coach Eddie Jones said. "We were giving Tonga too much leeway on the front foot. We adjusted that a little bit and added a little more kicking to our game."

Tonga has not beaten Japan since the third-place match of the 2015 Cup.

"Against Tonga it's always going to be a physical game," Japan captain Dearns said. "We were able to match them and able to play our rugby, which gave us a bit of an advantage."

Japan will face the winner of a later semi-final between Canada and Fiji in next Saturday's championship match at Salt Lake City, Utah. Fiji beat Japan 41-17 in last year's final.

"We were able to do our set pieces and continue to fight for 80 minutes against a physical Tonga team," Japan tight-head prop Shuhi Takeuchi said through a translator.

"Next week is going to be very physical again but we're going to review some good points and bad points and we're going to do our best."

All four semi-finalists are qualified for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia and 2031 Rugby World Cup host United States qualified as well by beating Samoa 29-13 in the fifth-place match.

The US Eagles advanced after failing to qualify for the 2023 World Cup in France.

Samoa will face Chile next weekend at Salt Lake City and on September 27 in Santiago in a two-game playoff series for a World Cup spot.

Tonga took a 5-0 lead on flanker Fotu Lokotui's try in the sixth minute but Japan answered on Era's long breakaway run in the 10th minute, the conversion giving Japan a 7-5 edge.

Tongan-born Fakatava stretched Japan's lead with a try in the 18th minute, busting out of a scrum for his fifth try of the tournament.

Tonga captain Ben Tameifuna scored in the 26th minute and Patrick Pellegrini's conversion lifted Tonga within two.

Dearns answered with a try in the 32nd minute but Veikoso Poloniati's try in the 38th minute pulled Tonga within 21-19 at halftime.

In the 42nd minute, Fujiwara's short kick was grabbed and touched down by Riley for a try. Lee Seung-sin kicked a penalty in the 50th minute, Fujiwara added a try in the 55th minute and Lee hit another penalty kick in the 59th.

Pellegrini answered with a Tongan try in the 63rd minute but reserves Sato and Tamefusa and a penalty try in the last eight minutes boosted Japan's final margin.

"Just really disappointed. We worked pretty hard the past couple weeks," Tonga's Tameifuna said. "We got points in the first half. We just didn't build on it in the second half."

J.Scott--SFF