Japan 27 - 10 Italy

● full_time 80 minutes

04 Jul 2026

Nations Championship

Stage: Southern Hemisphere Round 1

Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium

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

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

0' kickoff
4' try Juan Ignacio Brex
5' conversion Paolo Garbisi
10' try Warner Dearns
11' conversion Takuro Matsunaga
12' substitution Lorenzo Pani
16' try Takuro Matsunaga
16' conversion Takuro Matsunaga
24' penalty Takuro Matsunaga
40' half_time
40' second_half
43' penalty Paolo Garbisi
46' try Ben Gunter
47' conversion Takuro Matsunaga
47' substitution Tommaso Di Bartolomeo
47' substitution Alessandro Ortombina
51' substitution Kanji Shimokawa
56' substitution Mamoru Harada
56' substitution Shuhei Takeuchi
59' substitution Takato Okabe
59' substitution Harry Hockings
60' substitution Danilo Fischetti
60' substitution Marco Riccioni
60' substitution Stephen Varney
60' substitution Juan Ignacio Brex
64' substitution Ben Gunter
66' penalty Takuro Matsunaga
67' substitution Niccolo Cannone
74' substitution Naoto Saito
80' full_time