Japan's Sakura Sevens Trounced Kazakhstan to Qualify for Rio Olympics

Japan's women seven-a-siders cinched tickets to Rio by beating Kazakhstan 14-7 at Tokyo's Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium November 29.

Kazakhstan had both height and power. They had ousted Sakura Sevens 7-5 two hours earlier and constantly controlled the game.

A breakthrough came at 3 minutes and 15 seconds when Makiko Tomita won a PK and attempted a quick attack. Marie Yamaguchi ran to the right and passed on to Chiharu Nakamura for a try. That was a quick work done after the interception. Tomita believes rugby to be a sport to humanely grown by and had promised to "play boldly".

Sakura Sevens finished the first half 7-0, but the game was not even near  satisfactory. They had a hard time capturing the ball in line-outs; their defence  not good enough to break the opponents' passes.

At 40 seconds in the second half, Kazakhstan quickly tried and converted to tie up the game. It was a combination of a long kick, chase and a fast run.

The road to victory was not an easy one for Sakura Sevens.They overcame the trial only on the strength of years of hard work and a willpower to penetrate. The tide began to run in favor of Sakura Sevens as they started connecting PKs to fast offensives - a tactic Sakura Sevens excelled the opponents in. Kazakhstan broke down and kept on fouling until at 7 minutes and 30 seconds in the second half, when Mifuyu Koide rushed and scored the winning try.

Coach Keiko Asami commented after the game:

"We were visibly more anxious to win than the opponents. My girls rushed for every inch of the way and fought for loose balls quite often."
Captain Chiharu Nakamura recaptured the game thus:

"Anything can happen in a game that decides the road to the Olympics. Kazakhstan had a strong will to win, so did we. We were constantly ready to attack, never to be on the defensive".