The Junior All Blacks maintained their unbeaten record in the Pacific Nations Cup after brushing aside Japan 52-21 in Lautoka, Fiji, yesterday.
In the other third round match here, Samoa made the most of their opportunities to run in four tries in a 27-13 win over Tonga to hold on to second place in the five-nation competition.
The Juniors appeared set to humiliate Japan after sprinting to a 40-0 lead at halftime, but the second half was a different story as Japan found some composure and the New Zealanders took their foot off the gas.
Japan scored three converted tries to come back to 40-21 midway through the second spell, but two late tries to the Juniors stretched the margin beyond 30 points and their try tally to eight.
Juniors winger Hosea Gear scored a pair, bring his tally to six from three Pacific Nations matches and underlying the talent that saw him tour Europe with the All Blacks at the end of last year.
Blindside flanker Victor Vito also scored two and was always a handful for Japan with his strong defense and speed on counter attack.
Hulking No. 8 Sione Lauaki also touched down twice, while flyhalf Colin Slade and lock Craig Clarke scored one each, with Slade kicking five conversions and replacement Stephen Brett chipping in with another.
The Juniors scored a point a minute in the first half, with the floodgates opening after 11 minutes when Vito fended a Japanese defender and sprinted 60m to touch down.
Despite the first half hammering, the Japanese hit back in the second spell with their first points coming five minutes into the spell when No. 8 Takashi Kikutani dived over after the Japanese pack drove back their much larger opposition in a maul.
They struck again midway through the spell through tries to Jack Tarrant and outside center Koji Taira, with inside center Ryan Nicholas kicking three conversions.
In the earlier match, Tonga’s dominance of possession and territory counted for little because of a lack of coherence in attack.
Samoa scored their first try through lock Joseph Tekori after five minutes, when he stole the ball from the breakdown to run 25m to touch down.
They added their second six minutes from the break from a quick tap penalty that saw the ball swung through the backline to inside center Seilala Mapusua, who spun out of a tackle to score.
Tonga stayed in touch with two first half penalties from flyhalf Pierre Hola, but went into the break 10-6 down.
In the second half Samoa threatened to run away with the match, scoring two converted tries inside the first 15 minutes to stretch their lead to 24-6.
Winger Sailosi Tagicakibau and halfback and scrumhalf Junior Poluleuluigaga did the damage for Samoa before Tonga reduced the deficit to 11 points through a converted try from replacement forward Teu’imuli Kaufusi.
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