Eagles edge Brave Blossoms

The USA beat Japan 23-18 in their Pacific Nations Cup match in Sacramento on Saturday.

It was the Eagles' first win against the Brave Blossoms since 2003.

The USA lost their first match of the tournament against Samoa, but were too good for a Japan team that rested several first-choice players.

Flanker Andrew Durutalo scored the Americans' only try, with flyhalf AJ MacGinty kicking six penalties as his team came from 18-9 down to record the win.

USA – Try: Andrew Durutalo. Penalties: AJ MacGinty (6).
Japan – Tries: Akihito Yamada, Ryu Koliniasi Holani. Conversion: Harumichi Tatekawa. Penalties: Tatekawa (2).

USA – 15 Chris Wyles (c), 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Thretton Palamo, 11 Taku Ngwenya, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Danny Barrett, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Scott Lavalla, 5 Cam Dolan, 4 Hayden Smith, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 1 Eric Fry.
Subs: 16 Phil Thiel, 17 Nick Wallace, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Louis Stanfill, 20 Alastair McFarland, 21 Shalom Suniula, 22 Folau Niua, 23 Zach Test.

Japan – 15 Yoshikazu Fujita, 14 Karne Hesketh, 13 Kotaro Matshushima, 12 Ryohei Yamanaka, 11 Akihito Yamada, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Justin Ives, 5 Luke Thompson, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Keita Inagaki.
Subs: 16 Hisateru Hirashima, 17 Hiroki Yuhara, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Kazuhiko Usami, 20 Tsuyoshi Murata, 21 Atsushi Hiwasa, 22 Kosei Ono, 23 Tim Bennetts.

Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP Photo

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