TheBreakdown
Men's Rugby World Cup 1987 · Concord Oval, Sydney | Gadigal · 30 May 1987Head-to-head
Full-time reportFull time
England won by 53 points.Half-time 16–3 · Tries 10–1

Pitch map

Layers

Swipe the pitch sideways to see it full size.

3239434850576367697779
Totals only: no positions in the feed
Tacklesmademissed
ENG479
JPN5226
Kicks at goalconv.pensdrops
ENG7/102/30
JPN0/11/20
← Japan attack · England 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
  • Territory is not in the feed for this match.
  • Zone counts are not in the feed for this match.
  • Tackle positions are not in the feed for this match.
  • Kick positions are not in the feed for this match.
  • Ruck, line break, turnover, lineout and kick-from-hand positions are not in the feed for this match.
  • Tries with a dashed ring have no recorded position, so they sit in the in-goal at the end that side attacked.
Tries and goal kicks as a table
MinTeamWhatScore
32′EnglandTry, Rory Underwood, conversion missed10–3
39′EnglandTry, Gary Rees, converted14–3
43′JapanTry, Katsufumi Miyamoto, conversion missed16–7
48′EnglandTry, Jamie Salmon, converted20–7
50′EnglandTry, Dean Richards, conversion missed26–7
57′EnglandTry, Rory Underwood, conversion missed30–7
63′EnglandTry, Kevin Simms, converted34–7
67′EnglandTry, Mike Harrison, converted40–7
69′EnglandTry, Mike Harrison, converted46–7
77′EnglandTry, Nigel Redman, converted52–7
79′EnglandTry, Mike Harrison, converted58–7
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.
015304560HT0′20′40′60′80′
32′Rory Underwood39′Gary Rees43′Katsufumi Miyamoto48′Jamie Salmon50′Dean Richards57′Rory Underwood63′Kevin Simms67′Mike Harrison69′Mike Harrison77′Nigel Redman79′Mike Harrison
ENG

Team stats

JPN
91%Possession9%
150Carries77
663Metres gained316
33Clean breaks8
26Defenders beaten9
152Passes90
17Offloads7
47Tackles made52
9Tackles missed26
31/34Rucks won14/17
10/11Lineouts won13/28
18/18Scrums won13/14
13/13Mauls won6/8
15Penalties conceded8
71Kicks from hand23
Goal kicking
ENG conversions 7/10, penalties 2/3 · JPN conversions 0/1, penalties 1/2. 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. This feed has team statistics but no positions for this match.

Line-ups

England

  1. 1Paul RendallProp
  2. 2Brian MooreHooker
  3. 3Gareth ChilcottProp
  4. 4Nigel RedmanSecond row
  5. 5Steve BainbridgeSecond row
  6. 6Peter WinterbottomFlanker
  7. 7Gary ReesFlanker
  8. 8Dean RichardsNumber 8
  9. 9Richard HardingScrum-half
  10. 10Peter WilliamsFly-half
  11. 11Rory UnderwoodWing
  12. 12Jamie SalmonCentre
  13. 13Kevin SimmsCentre
  14. 14Mike HarrisonWing
  15. 15Jonathan WebbFull-back
  16. 16Francis CloughBench
  17. 17Rob AndrewBench
  18. 18Richard HillBench
  19. 19Micky SkinnerBench
  20. 20Graham DaweBench
  21. 21Gary PearceBench

Japan

  1. 1Toshitaki KimuraProp
  2. 2Tsuyoshi FujitaHooker
  3. 3Koji HoraguchiProp
  4. 4Atsushi OyagiSecond row
  5. 5Seiji KuriharaSecond row
  6. 6Katsufumi MiyamotoFlanker
  7. 7Toshiyuki HayashiFlanker
  8. 8Michihito ChidaNumber 8
  9. 9Mitsutake HagimotoScrum-half
  10. 10Seiji HiraoFly-half
  11. 11Shinji OnukiWing
  12. 12Katsuhiro MatsuoCentre
  13. 13Eiji KutsukiCentre
  14. 14Nofomuli TaumoefolauWing
  15. 15Daijiro MuraiFull-back
  16. 16Tsutomu HiroseBench
  17. 17Masaharu AizawaBench
  18. 18Yasuhara KawaseBench
  19. 19Hisataka IkutaBench
  20. 20Kojiro YoshinagaBench
  21. 21Shogo MukaiBench

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, England 11–0 Japan in 11 scored Tests. Full head-to-head

England 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.