Japan 27 - 10 Italy

Full time

04 Jul 2026

Nations Championship

Stage: Southern Hemisphere Round 1

Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium

Japan vs Italy head to head

🎉 4

👏 3

🔥 3

😭 3

Japan triumphed over Italy with a convincing 27-10 victory in the Nations Championship. Italy started strong, with Brex scoring a try early on, quickly followed by Garbisi's conversion to lead 7-0. However, Japan responded with a flurry of scoring, including tries from Dearns and Matsunaga, the latter also adding two conversions and a penalty to give Japan a 17-7 lead at halftime. In the second half, Gunter extended Japan's lead with another try, and Matsunaga's continued accuracy from the tee solidified their dominance. Italy's Garbisi managed a penalty early in the half, but Japan's defense proved resolute. Matsunaga sealed the match with a late penalty, bringing his personal tally to 17 points. The win marked a significant turnaround for Japan after their previous loss to Italy.

Broadcasters

Where to watch in: Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom

Weather

Temperature: 25.6°C (Feels like 25.2°C) Condition: Cloudy Wind: 11.2 km/h, gusting to 27.6 km/h Humidity: 71% Cloud Cover: 96%

Highlights

Events

Kickoff
4'

Try

Juan Ignacio Brex · Italy

0 - 5
5'

Conversion

Paolo Garbisi · Italy

0 - 7
10'

Try

Warner Dearns · Japan

5 - 7
11'

Conversion

Takuro Matsunaga · Japan

7 - 7
12'

Substitution

Tommaso Allan on for Lorenzo Pani · Italy
16'

Try

Takuro Matsunaga · Japan

12 - 7
16'

Conversion

Takuro Matsunaga · Japan

14 - 7
24'

Penalty

Takuro Matsunaga · Japan

17 - 7
Halftime 17 - 7
Second Half
43'

Penalty

Paolo Garbisi · Italy

17 - 10
46'

Try

Ben Gunter · Japan

22 - 10
47'

Conversion

Takuro Matsunaga · Japan

24 - 10
47'

Substitution

Gianmarco Lucchesi on for Tommaso Di Bartolomeo · Italy
47'

Substitution

Ross Vintcent on for Alessandro Ortombina · Italy
51'

Substitution

Michael Leitch on for Kanji Shimokawa · Japan
56'

Substitution

Hayate Era on for Mamoru Harada · Japan
56'

Substitution

Keijiro Tamefusa on for Shuhei Takeuchi · Japan
59'

Substitution

Sojiro Otsuka on for Takato Okabe · Japan
59'

Substitution

Michael Stolberg on for Harry Hockings · Japan
60'

Substitution

Mirco Spagnolo on for Danilo Fischetti · Italy
60'

Substitution

Muhamed Hasa on for Marco Riccioni · Italy
60'

Substitution

Alessandro Fusco on for Stephen Varney · Italy
60'

Substitution

Leonardo Marin on for Juan Ignacio Brex · Italy
64'

Substitution

Tiennan Costley on for Ben Gunter · Japan
66'

Penalty

Takuro Matsunaga · Japan

27 - 10
67'

Substitution

Riccardo Favretto on for Niccolo Cannone · Italy
74'

Substitution

Itsuki Kamimura on for Naoto Saito · Japan
Fulltime 27 - 10

Player ratings

Japan

15 Takuro Matsunaga 8.2
14 Kazuma Ueda 7.1
13 Dylan Riley 6.2
12 Yuya Hirose 7.2
11 Kippei Ishida 6.7
10 Ryunosuke Ito 6.7
9 Naoto Saito 7.1
1 Takato Okabe 6.8
2 Mamoru Harada 7.5
3 Shuhei Takeuchi 7.1
4 Harry Hockings 7.4
5 Warner Dearns 8.3
6 Ben Gunter 8.7
7 Kanji Shimokawa 6.7
8 Jack Cornelsen 6.4
16 Hayate Era 7.0
17 Sojiro Otsuka 6.5
18 Keijiro Tamefusa 6.9
19 Michael Stolberg 6.3
20 Michael Leitch 6.1
21 Tiennan Costley 6.5
22 Itsuki Kamimura –
23 Sam Greene –

Italy

15 Lorenzo Pani 5.6
14 Malik Faissal 6.0
13 Juan Ignacio Brex 7.6
12 Tommaso Menoncello 6.3
11 Monty Ioane 5.7
10 Paolo Garbisi 6.2
9 Stephen Varney 6.0
1 Danilo Fischetti 6.2
2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo 7.4
3 Marco Riccioni 6.9
4 Niccolo Cannone 6.3
5 Andrea Zambonin 6.5
6 Alessandro Ortombina 6.5
7 Michele Lamaro 6.5
8 Lorenzo Cannone 7.9
16 Gianmarco Lucchesi 6.1
17 Mirco Spagnolo 5.7
18 Muhamed Hasa 6.3
19 Riccardo Favretto 5.8
20 Ross Vintcent 5.9
21 Alessandro Fusco 6.1
22 Leonardo Marin 6.0
23 Tommaso Allan 5.8