The Japan U20s gave a good account of themselves despite losing their Junior World Championship 2026 opener to New Zealand in Kutaisi at AIA Arena, with lightning forcing the match to be abandoned.
Photo Credit – World Rugby
Very few would have predicted the Japanese to go toe-to-toe with the New Zealand side, who were 2025 runners-up and, more so, have the upper hand at the scrum, but the Japanese were good value and went into the half tied up 21-21 with the Junior All Blacks in torrential rain.
The New Zealand side has lost so few pool games at this level, while the last Japan win came in 2015, but the performance will give them a lot of hope for the final two pool games against Italy and Scotland. The Scots pipped Italy 38-32 in that encounter.
Photo Credit – World Rugby
In this fixture, NZ took the lead, but Japan came back with a try to Kise Shin. New Zealand scored twice before they had a yellow card, and the Japanese struck back with two tries late in the half through Shinnosuke Uchida and Sota Miura.
First-half tries for NZ came from Dane Johnston, Bradley Tocker and Ollie Guerin.
The second half started with NZ controlling the ball and territory, and they were denied their first points in the 50th minute but scored moments later to lead 26-21. They had a second try in the half, which was ruled out for crawling, but added three more tries as they kept it tight and physical, nullifying Japan’s running game, and physically overpowering the smaller Japan side.
Tries came from Logan Williams, Caleb Woodley and Mika Muliaina. In the 68th minute, lightning stopped play, and teams didn’t re-emerge as it was called off, and NZ was awarded the result.
Japan U20s Head Coach Naoya Okubo said after the game, “It’s very disappointing that we couldn’t play for the last 12 minutes. However, in terms of performance, there’s no need to be pessimistic.
In particular, there were many instances where we were able to fight as a team against New Zealand who are a formidable opponent, so we’ll take this as a positive and use the lessons learned to step up our game even further for the next match against Italy.”
Photo Credit – World Rugby
In the first half, the lighter Japanese pack had scrum dominance and Japan U20s captain Tsunehidemichi Fukuda added, “In the challenging match conditions of thunderstorms and rain, our forwards were dominant in set pieces in the first half, which gave the team momentum and allowed us to play well.
However, in the second half, we lost discipline and conceded several tries in a row. There are many areas we can improve, so we will use the four days to make those adjustments and aim to secure four points in our next match against Italy.”
All of the players spoke of their disappointment and that they had targeted this game for some time. Try scorer Shin Kise said, “We played well in the first half, believing in what we had been working on and executing our attacks according to the script. However, in the second half, we fell apart due to our own mistakes, and we lost.
The match ended prematurely, leaving us feeling unsatisfied, but we will look forward and aim for the quarterfinals or better. We will unite as a team for the remaining two pool matches, and we ask for your continued support.”
Japan next faces Italy on Thursday, 2 July 2026.
More from the opening round can be seen here.
Japan U20s points scorers:
Tries: Kise Shin, Shinnosuke Uchida, Sota Miura
Conversions: Takeru Niwa x3
New Zealand U20s points scorers:
Tries: Dane Johnston, Bradley Tocker, Ollie Guerin, Logan Williams, Caleb Woodley, Mika Muliana
Conversions: Mika Muliana x4
Japan Rugby News 2026
- Japan U20 vs New Zealand U20 – JWC 2026 Match Preview.
- Junior World Championship 2026 – Dates, Pools & Schedule for 2026 Confirmed.
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- Asian International Rugby Tournaments 2026.
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