Joe Cokanasiga scores try on debut as England beat Japan 35-15

Joe Cokanasiga enjoyed a debut to remember, scoring a try for England late on as they ran out 35-15 winners against Japan at Twickenham on Saturday.

England started the game strongly scoring after 180 seconds but the early try seduced them into a false sense of security.

Powered by skipper Michael Leitch, Japan came back strongly in the 1st half and were sharper in thought and execution.going into half time in the lead.

The Brave Blossoms were living up to their name with their attack full of tricks and offloads.

Jones played his trump card during the break, introducing Owen Farrell in place of Lozowski. Farrell helped increase the line speed, while the attacking play became more direct and the kicking game improved dramatically.

'We played like England in the second half. Owen is obviously a forceful character and he came on and did a good job for us. I can only recall Japan in our 22 once and those stats in the first half were probably the opposite in the second half.”

England Rugby head coach Eddie Jones

All of the pre-match talk had been about debutant winger Cokanisiga. Following his involvement in the early try, he popped up for England's third try.

Courtney Lawes won a turnover penalty to stifle a Japanese attack and, moments later. Cokanisiga scorched down the left following a break from Richard Wigglesworth.

“Joe will score plenty, He is a big lad with pace and power and can find the line. He will score a few more at Twickenham down that left-hand side.” said England Rugby head coach Eddie Jones

England finished the match 35-15  and Jones will breath a sigh of relief but credit to Japan who continue to make great strides.

MATCH FACTS

England: Hepburn (Moon 49); George (Hartley 73); Williams (Sinckler 51); Ewels (Hill 75); Itoje; Lawes; Wilson; Mercer (Underhill 49); Care (Wigglesworth 60); Ford; Ashton; Lozowski (Farrell 41); Nowell; Cokanasiga; Daly

Tries: Care (4), Wilson (59), Cokanasiga (71), Hartley (76)

Conversions: Ford (5,60,72)

Penalties: Daly (28), Ford (56,65)

Japan: Inagaki; Sakate (Niwai 70); Koo; Van der Walt; Helu (Anise 41); Leitch; Nishikawa; Himeno (Tui 60); Tanaka (Nagare 41); Tamura (Matsuda 70); Fukuoka; Nakamura; Lafaele; Yamada; Tupou

Tries: Nakamura (22), Leitch (31)

Conversions: Tamura (23)

Penalties: Tamura (17)