TheBreakdown
Men's Rugby World Cup 2015 · Brighton Community Stadium, Brighton and Hove · 19 September 2015Head-to-head
Full-time reportFull time
Japan won by 2 points.Half-time 12–10 · Tries 4–3 · RSA 1 yellow card

Pitch map

Layers

Swipe the pitch sideways to see it full size.

8′11′43′49′53′57′60′73′1830334462698435100Attacks636Ball won69121173718680492015557561326%Own 2236%Own half70%Opp half73%Opp 22
Totals only: no positions in the feed
Tacklesmademissed
RSA10216
JPN12726
← Japan attack · South Africa attack →Hover a try for detail · dots = tackles made · dashed = penalty goal · orange = missed · squares = rucks · triangles = line breaks and defenders beaten · rings = turnovers · bars at the foot = zone counts · thin lines = kicks from hand = attacking entries and ball won per band
  • Tackle positions are not in the feed for this match.
Tries and goal kicks as a table
MinTeamWhatScore
18′South AfricaTry, Francois Louw, converted5–3
30′JapanTry, Michael Leitch, converted7–8
33′South AfricaTry, Bismarck Du Plessis, conversion missed12–10
44′South AfricaTry, Lodewyk De Jager, converted17–13
62′South AfricaTry, Adriaan Strauss, converted27–22
69′JapanTry, Ayumu Goromaru, converted29–27
84′JapanTry, Karne Hesketh, conversion missed32–34
8′JapanPenalty goal scored
11′JapanPenalty goal missed
43′JapanPenalty goal scored
49′JapanPenalty goal scored
53′JapanPenalty goal scored
57′South AfricaPenalty goal scored
60′JapanPenalty goal scored
73′South AfricaPenalty goal scored
Sample dataTerritory shares are estimated, and tries without a recorded position are placed in the in-goal. Other positions are as logged by the match feed and approximate.

Score progression

Drag to replay the match on the pitchSwipe the chart sideways for the full match.
010203040HT0′20′40′60′80′1 RSA card
18′Francois Louw30′Michael Leitch33′Bismarck Du Plessis44′Lodewyk De Jager62′Adriaan Strauss69′Ayumu Goromaru84′Karne Hesketh
RSA

Team stats

JPN
55%Possession45%
58%Territory42%
138Carries95
451Metres gained370
7Clean breaks3
26Defenders beaten16
171Passes124
10Offloads0
102Tackles made127
16Tackles missed26
101/106Rucks won81/83
15/15Lineouts won12/13
2/2Scrums won7/7
5/6Mauls won4/5
5Turnovers won7
12Penalties conceded8
35Kicks from hand36
523Kick metres545
Goal kicking
RSA conversions 3/4, penalties 2/2 · JPN conversions 2/3, penalties 5/6. Pale segment = set piece lost.

Match statistics and event positions come from World Rugby’s public match feed, which is unofficial and not licensed for reuse; TheBreakdown reduces them to the figures shown.

Line-ups

South Africa

  1. 1Tendai MtawariraProp
  2. 2Bismarck Du PlessisHooker
  3. 3Jannie Du PlessisProp
  4. 4Lodewyk De JagerSecond row
  5. 5Victor MatfieldSecond row
  6. 6Francois LouwFlanker
  7. 7Pieter-Steph Du ToitFlanker
  8. 8Schalk BurgerNumber 8
  9. 9Ruan PienaarScrum-half
  10. 10Pat LambieFly-half
  11. 11Lwazi MvovoWing
  12. 12Jean De VilliersCentre
  13. 13Jesse KrielCentre
  14. 14Bryan HabanaWing
  15. 15Zane KirchnerFull-back
  16. 16Adriaan StraussBench
  17. 17Trevor NyakaneBench
  18. 18Coenie OosthuizenBench
  19. 19Eben EtzebethBench
  20. 20Siya KolisiBench
  21. 21Fourie Du PreezBench
  22. 22Handre PollardBench
  23. 23JP PietersenBench

Japan

  1. 1Masataka MikamiProp
  2. 2Shota HorieHooker
  3. 3Kensuke HatakeyamaProp
  4. 4Luke ThompsonSecond row
  5. 5Hitoshi OnoSecond row
  6. 6Michael LeitchFlanker
  7. 7Michael BroadhurstFlanker
  8. 8Hendrik TuiNumber 8
  9. 9Fumiaki TanakaScrum-half
  10. 10Kosei OnoFly-half
  11. 11Kotaro MatsushimaWing
  12. 12Harumichi TatekawaCentre
  13. 13Male SauCentre
  14. 14Akihito YamadaWing
  15. 15Ayumu GoromaruFull-back
  16. 16Takeshi KizuBench
  17. 17Keita InagakiBench
  18. 18Hiroshi YamashitaBench
  19. 19Shinya MakabeBench
  20. 20Amanaki MafiBench
  21. 21Atsushi HiwasaBench
  22. 22Yu TamuraBench
  23. 23Karne HeskethBench

Match officials

Sample data
Referee
Sample Referee
Assistant referee
Sample Assistant 1
Assistant referee
Sample Assistant 2
TMO
Sample TMO

Sample data Match officials is placeholder content: TheBreakdown has no data source for it yet, so nothing here is real.

Context

All-time, South Africa 3–1 Japan in 4 scored Tests. Full head-to-head

South Africa going in
Japan going in

Also on this day

Results to 27 September 2026. Scoring and line-ups come from World Rugby match summaries where available; older Tests may have neither.